NEW FIGURES RELEASED today have brought good news for businesses up and down the country involved in the tourism industry.
In the three month period between August and October, the number of trips to Ireland increased by 6.7% on the same period in 2013.
The total number of visits for this period stood at 2,284,700.
In the first ten months of this year, the new figures showed a 8.8% increase in visits in.
Our popularity seems has grown the most with those from the United States and Canada – with trips increasing by 20.9% from 363,900 last year, to 439,900.
Despite this increase, our biggest visitor remains our closest neighbour, with the 920,500 tourists from Great Britain making up almost a third of all visitors here.
Off on holiday?
The number of people from Ireland taking trips abroad remained lower than the number of visitors coming in.
In the period between August and October 1,920,200 people took trips overseas. This was just under 16% fewer than those coming into the country.
In comparison to the same period in 2011 – Irish people took 140,000 more trips overseas between August and October this year.
Reaction
The news today was welcomed by Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe.
The news was also welcomed by Minister of State, Michael Ring, who said:
We recognised that the tourism sector could play a critical part in employment generation. The impressive growth in overseas visit numbers is clearly contributing to the growth in the number of those employed in the sector.
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