The number of visits by Irish citizens to the United States last year is estimated at more than 500,000, putting Ireland among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of US visitor number, writes Deaglán de Bréadún, Foreign Affairs Correspondent.
This was a significant increase on 2004 when official US figures put the number of non-immigrant Irish visitors at 429,940, putting Ireland at 14th place in the world.
Meanwhile, in the six weeks before last Christmas alone, it is understood that more than 100,000 Irish citizens visited the US.
The average stay for Irish visitors during 2004 was 14 nights, according to the US Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, and the average amount of money spent per day was €104.78 ($126).
More than half, or 53 per cent, visited New York city and almost one in four, or 23 per cent, rented a car during their stay in the US.
Commenting at the weekend, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said: "It's mind-boggling to see the level of travel by Irish people but it's one of the clear manifestations of an economy that is very, very healthy and long may it last from our point of view."
The estimated figure of more than 500,000 for 2005 is based on information supplied to the Department of Foreign Affairs by the US embassy in Dublin.
The number of visitors is remarkable in view of the size of Ireland's population at four million, although it should be borne in mind that a substantial number of Irish passport-holders are resident in Northern Ireland or overseas.
The level of mobility of the population is also reflected in reports that the number of Irish visitors to Spain last year was approximately one million. Irish visitors to the Canary Islands alone are estimated at 440,000 in 2005, which puts Ireland in fourth place in the world for visitors to that area.
According to the official figures from the US Office of Immigration Statistics supplied to The Irish Times, there were almost as many non-immigrant visitors from Ireland in 2004 as from the entire African continent. The total number of African visitors was 432,314 compared to 429,940 from Ireland.
Ireland is far ahead of most of its EU partners in terms of visits to the US. Figures for 2004 were as follows: Austria 152,850; Belgium 209,586; Denmark 187,613; Finland 102,366; Greece 61,699; Poland 172,956; Portugal 99,368; Sweden 309,334.
Mr Ahern said the statistics illustrated the reason the Government was pressing ahead with the updating of Irish passports to meet the latest US technical criteria "in order to ensure that our people would not be prevented from going in and out to America".