TRIPS TO IRELAND rose by nearly one-fifth in the three months until the end of January.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has released figures that show there were 1.745 million trips to Ireland between November and the end of January this year.
That is up from 1.474 million in the same time last year, representing an 18.4% increase.
815,000 of those came from Great Britain, up from 694,000 last year. There were rises in all other nationalities visiting Ireland, including a 40,000 rise in the number of people coming from the US and Canada.
Trips by residents of North America to Ireland increased by 19.4% to 240,200 while trips to Ireland from other areas increased by 10.6% to 113,400.
The total number of overseas trips made by Irish residents during the period increased by 4.9% to 1.379 million.
Fáilte Ireland CEO Shaun Quinn cautioned against complacency and urged a “continued focus on achieving incremental steady growth”.
Today’s great growth builds on the positive trends of the last few years but we mustn’t lose the run of ourselves.
“Recent fluctuations in the currency markets – particularly Sterling – and international volatility could change the current positive narrative very quickly.”
The figures don’t include those who come into Ireland via Northern Ireland.
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