Updated 10.30pm
IRELAND HAS BEEN named as one of the ‘top 10 destinations to watch in 2016′ by a luxury travel website.
Condé Nast Traveller is published as sa magazine in both the UK and US and its website has more than 250,000 monthly users.
It describes Ireland as having “completely turned its fortunes around” and that Dublin is “buzzing along in a permanent state of celebration”.
Speaking about the news, CEO of Tourism Ireland Niall Gibbons, said:
It is another well-deserved accolade, which provides Tourism Ireland with a great hook to continue to promote the island of Ireland as a ‘must visit’ destination.
The last three months have seen a serious bump in the number of people taking their holidays in Ireland.
New figures from the CSO show that for the period between September and November, the total number went up by almost 20% – climbing from 1,847,100 in 2014 up to 2,201,100.
It continues an upward trend from the previous year, with the number of trips in 2013 having been 1,735,800.
Who has been coming to visit?
Visitors from Great Britain made up the bulk of those making the trips, accounting for 901,900 of the total number.
They were followed by visitors from elsewhere in Europe, accounting for 768,300, and then visitors from North America, accounting for 393,500.
Out of these, the biggest increase in numbers was among those coming over from Europe, who saw a 24.4% boost on the number from the previous year.
Taking a view across the year, the 11 months to the end of November saw the total number of trips to Ireland increase by 14% when compared with the same period in 2014.
Have we been getting away more?
There has also been a boost in the number of trips being taken by Irish people overseas.
In the first 11 months of this year the number of overseas trips taken by Irish residents has gone up by more than 400,000, rising from 6,101,100 up to 6,511,000.
- First published 07.30pm
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