The number of trips by overseas visitors to Ireland increased by some 10.5 per cent last year, while the number of trips Irish people made abroad was up by 12 per cent, new figures show.
The figures for overseas travel for 2006 published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) today reveal there were some 7.7 million trips to Ireland last year, some four million of which were made by visitors from Britain.
John O'Donoghue
More than 2.2 million trips were made by residents of other European countries, an increase of 19.3 per cent on the previous year.
There were also more than a million visits from North America, up 10.9 per cent on the year before. Visits from other parts of the world numbered just under 314,000, up 8.2 per cent.
In the month of December, there were 558,700 trips to Ireland compared to 497,700 in December 2005 - an increase of 12.3 per cent.
Irish people made 6.8 million visits overseas, up 12 per cent on 2005.
Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue said the figures confirmed 2006 as a record year for tourism. All of Ireland's major markets showed very healthy performances in 2006, he said.
"Over 7.7 million visitors came to Ireland during the year. This is an increase of 10.5 per cent on the previous year and strongly exceeds the target set for the year," he said.