THE NUMBER OF overseas visitors to Ireland dropped slightly from August to October 2011 when compared with the same period of last year, but the number of trips made to Ireland in the first ten months of this year is above those made in 2010.

Meanwhile, Irish residents made 6.3 per cent fewer trips from August to October of this year than last year, a drop of 120,500 visits.

Trips abroad by Irish residents have fallen to 238,300 for the year to October 2011 from 713,200 trips in first ten months of 2009 and 369,300 trips in 2010, according to the latest CSO figures.

Overseas trips to Ireland made between January and October 2011 dropped slightly to 1,903,900 from 1,907,400 for the same period of 2010.

Trips from residents in Great Britain fell by 14,600 (or 1.7 per cent) to 844,600 trips for that period of 2011, while North American residents made 2.5 per cent fewer trips over those months (down from 299,800 to 282,300 trips).

The number of trips from residents of other parts of Europe and other international destinations grew over this period, though, up 2.4 per cent and 2.6 per cent respectively.

Trips to Ireland by overseas residents have fallen to 5,599,900 for the year to October 2011 from 6,032,800 trips in first ten months of 2009 and increased from the 5,212,700 trips made over the same period of 2010.

Reacting to the CSO data today, Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons said  that the “economic turmoil of recent months has brought increased uncertainty, affecting business and consumer confidence, and in turn, international travel”.

“Given the scale of the challenges facing the global economy right now, travel and tourism look likely to face a fairly cautious passage into 2012,” he added.