Visitor numbers to Ireland surpassed eight million for the first time last year. Ronan McGreevyreports.
A total of 8,012,200 tourists visited the Republic in 2007, an increase of 4 per cent on 2006.
The strongest growth was recorded in the continental European market, with numbers up by more than 300,000 from 2,280,700 to 2,590,400, an increase of 14 per cent.
The increase was partially as a result of immigration, with an increase of 76,000 in visitors from Poland and 20,000 from Lithuania.
The traditional tourism markets of Germany (up 44,000), France (up 40,000) and Spain (up 39,000) also performed strongly.
Visitors from North America were slightly up from 1,054,600 in 2006 to 1,073,600 in 2007, an increase of 1.3 per cent.
However, there was a small dip in the numbers from Britain, which accounts for half of all visitors to Ireland. In 2007, there was 4,031,900 visits from Britain, compared to 4,059,800 in 2006.
The Minister for Arts Sport and Tourism, Seamus Brennan, said the figures were something that "everybody in the tourism industry can be proud of", despite tougher economic conditions.
Meanwhile, Irish people took 7,713,100 trips abroad last year, 865,000 more than in 2006.