Trips to Ireland increased by 131,000 in April this year compared to the same month last year, according to CSO figures published today.
While the figures show trips to Ireland for the first time exceeding 2 million for the first quarter, the rate of increase in foreign travel is more pronounced.
Some 650,900 people came to Ireland in the month while there were 544,200 trips abroad over the same period - an increase of nearly 100,000.
The figures are distorted by Easter falling in March in 2005 - a traditional time for people taking holidays.
However, compared to April 2004, the increase in trips to Ireland is nearly 100,000. The increasing trend for outward travel is more pronounced compared to 2004, up 135,200.
The running total for the four months to April gives a truer account of the increase compared to last year. The CSO figures show 230,400 more visitors came to Ireland reaching 2,040, 800.
British visitors accounted 74,600 of the increase on last year; while the number of visitors from other European countries increased by 45,600. Trips to Ireland from North America grew by 7,800, while the number of visitors from other parts of the world grew by 3,200.
While the greater increase in trips abroad is consistent with the population's growing wealth and the lower cost of foreign travel, the influence of Ireland immigrant population is an emerging influence.
Trips to Ireland from European states other than Britain shows an increase of over 45,000 compared to the first quarter last year, an increasing proportion of which are from Poland, the Baltic countries and the Czech Republic.
Poland, in the first quarter of this year surpassed Holland as the country accounting for the fourth most visitors from a European state and is marginally behind Italy in third. Germany and France respectively account for most visitors.