More than 600,000 more people came to Ireland in 2014 compared to the previous year, according to latest figures from the Central Statistics Office.
In excess of 7.6 million trips were made to the Republic of Ireland in 2014, compared to 6,985,500 over the course of 2013. The statistics represent an increase of 1 million visitors since 2012, and follow the Department of Tourism embarking on a series of high-profile initiatives such as The Gathering in 2013 and the inception of the Wild Atlantic Way in 2014.
As expected, a vast majority of visits to these shores originated from our nearest neighbours in Britain, followed by the USA and Germany.
Trips to Ireland have increased across all of the country's main tourist markets in recent years, with just Poland and Sweden showing declining figures for 2014.
The number of trips made from the State also increased last year, following a dip in 2013. Some 6.5 million Irish travellers left the country in 2014, up 200,000 from 2011.
Trips to Ireland increased during all quarters last year, while the last period measured for October to December 2014 demonstrated a 7.3 per cent improvement from 2013.
Minister pays tribute
Commenting on the statistics, Minister for Tourism Paschal Donohoe said they were a testament to the work of everyone involved in the tourism sector.
“To increase our overseas numbers by a further 8.9 per cent following the year of The Gathering in 2013 is a great tribute to everybody involved in Irish tourism,” he said.
"In fact, today's release confirms that 2014 was the best year on record in terms of the numbers visiting Ireland from the important north American and mainland Europe markets."
Mr Donohoe said continued improvements over the next decade will lead to the creation of 50,000 extra jobs for the Irish economy, and that the Government is currently working on a new tourism policy which aims to increase the value of overseas visits to €5 billion.
Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Michael Ring said the elimination of the air travel tax and the retention of the 9 per cent rate of VAT for tourism-related services had contributed greatly towards the upturn in recent years.
Improvements still needed
Fáilte Ireland chief executive Shaun Quinn said he welcomed the news, but emphasised the need to continually improve the quality of services provided here in order to build on such successes.
“Those figures are extremely good for tourism, but we’d be cautioning against any kind of complacency,” Mr Quinn said.
“The international tourism market has been very competitive over recent years. One of the things that has helped us over recent years has been good value for money, and we’d urge the industry to maintain those rates that they’ve managed to develop in recent years,” he added.