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Connemara mountains and lake scenery, Ireland. via Shutterstock
The Connemara mountains.
# Tourism
Increase in trips to Ireland 'a positive start' to the year
Latest figures from the CSO have shown that nearly 1.2 million people travelled to Ireland from December 2012 to February 2013.
THERE WERE OVER 30,000 MORE trips to Ireland between December 2012 and February 2013, compared to the same period 12 months earlier, CSO figures have revealed.
The 30,200 additional trips equated to an increase of 2.6 per cent on the previous year.
Of the 1,176,100 trips to Ireland over the three month period, just under half were from Great Britain – a decrease of 2.4 per cent.
The biggest increase was from North America, with 141,600 trips, equating to an increase of 9.9 per cent.
There were 1.,136,000 trips abroad by Irish residents over the same three month period, a decrease of 0.6 per cent.
The chief executive of Tourism Ireland, Niall Gibbons, said that the figures represented “a positive start to 2013, as we roll out our promotional programme around the world.”
Read: North America ‘key to tourism growth’ as trips to Ireland up by 50,000 >
