General Industry

16% Increase In Overseas Visitors Reported

By Publications Checkout
16% Increase In Overseas Visitors Reported

Irish tourism numbers continue to improve, with the country seeing an increase of 16% in overseas visitors arriving in Ireland during the months of February to April 2016.

The total number of 2,062,500 trips were made to these shores during the months of February to April, according the latest CEO figures.

Trips made by UK residents rose by 18.6% to 958,100 during this period and is currently Ireland's largest market for overseas tourism.

The CSO figures also showed that trips by European residents has grown by 13.3% to 725,700. Ireland continues to be very popular with Americans despite intense competition from other destinations, welcoming some 10% of all US visitors who travel to Europe, with the country seeing an increase of 19.9% to 284,800 American visitors.

Tourist numbers from other areas of the globe has also risen by 1.5% to 94,000.

The CEO of Tourism Ireland, Niall Gibbons, said, "Our aim is to ensure that 2016 is another record-breaking year for Irish tourism and already we have seen an exceptional performance from North America for the three-month period of February to April - up almost 20% on the same three-month period in 2015."

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