FEWER IRISH PEOPLE travelled overseas this summer, but the number of people from abroad who came to Ireland grew by over 6 per cent between July and September 2011.

The total number of trips to Ireland over those three months was up 6.5 per cent to 2,126,200 on the same period of last year.

The latest CSO figures show that Great Britain remains the single biggest source of Ireland’s overseas visitors, with this group growing by 6.8 per cent between July and September to 910,000 trips.

Meanwhile, visitors from European countries other than Great Britain reached 741,800 visits (up 5.8 per cent) in this period.

North American residents made 5.2 per cent more trips to Ireland, while visits here from people living in other parts of the world increased by 12.3 per cent.

Irish residents made fewer trips overall over these three months – trips out of Ireland fell 7 per cent to 1,987,200, while the total number of trips taken by people living here dropped by 0.5 per cent to 4,113,400 trips.

Overseas visits to Ireland increased by over 10 per cent overall in the first nine months of 2011 compared to 2010.

Tourism Ireland welcomed the visitor increase figures, with its CEO Niall Gibbons saying that “2011 appears to mark a turning point for Irish tourism”