Oversea Visitor Numbers Up 3.1% - CSO

Overseas visitor numbers to Ireland have risen 3.1% during the first 10 months of 2017 compared to last year, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The agency's latest official data on overseas travel reveals a total of 8,531,500 visits have been made to the country so far this year, with visits from Mainland Europe up 4.4% for January – October.

In addition, North America registered an increase of 16.4% (1,845,200 visits), while visits from the rest of the world, mostly long-haul and developing markets, were up by 14.7% totalling 536,600 visits.

However, visits from Great Britain decreased by -6.1% (3,132,900 visits).

Commenting on the figures, Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport, Shane Ross said: "Today's CSO release confirms continued growth in visitor numbers for the first 10 months of 2017. We have seen consistent increases in terms of overall visitor numbers to Ireland since 2011 and it looks as though this upward trend will continue for 2017 despite the disappointing, if not surprising, fall in visitor numbers from Great Britain.

"It is expected that tourism will contribute in the region of €4.9 billion to the economy this year helping to sustain 225,000 jobs in communities across the country."

(LM)