Overseas visitor numbers increase

The latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures on overseas travel shows an increase of 12.2% in visits to Ireland for the first seven months of 2015 compared to the same period of 2014.

Tourism Minister Paschal Donohoe said, ‘I am pleased to welcome the statistics from the CSO which confirms the on-going strong performance in overseas visitors coming to Ireland. It is very encouraging that the growth in our overseas visitors is not confined to any particular region and all of our target overseas markets are performing exceptionally well.’

The latest CSO figures on Overseas Travel show:

At 4,814,600 visits, overall trips to Ireland were up 12.2% in the first seven months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014.

Visits from Mainland Europe grew by 12.7% for January to July 2015 (1,712,800 visits);

North America registered an increase of 14.9% for January – July 2015 (857,100 visits);

Visits from Great Britain were up by 11.1% for January – July 2015 (1,952,700 visits);

Visits from the rest of the world, mostly long-haul and developing markets, were up by 8.5% totalling over 292,100 visits.