THE LATEST FIGURES from the Central Statistics Office show that the number of overseas trips to Ireland by non-residents increased from 1.817 million in the second quarter of 2012 to 1.893 million trips for the period in 2013.

This is an increase of 4.2 per cent on last years figures.

The number of nights spent in Ireland by overseas travellers increased by 4.8 per cent on last year’s figures, up from 12.7 million to 13.3 million.

Average stay

In total, tourists to Ireland stayed here for one week. Tourists from areas like Australia and New Zealand stayed the longest – with an average of 11.5 days. People from the US and Canada stayed just over a week, while tourists from France and Germany stayed 9.1 and 9.2 days respectively.

Total tourism and travel earnings from overseas travellers to Ireland increased by 5.2 per cent from last year,  increasing from €1,048 million to €1,103 million

More Irish people holidayed abroad with from April to June of this year in comparison to last year.

Overseas

The number of trips made by Irish residents overseas increased by 1.4 per cent, from 1.727 million in the second quarter of 2012 to 1.752 million trips this year.

Total tourism and travel expenditure by Irish residents overseas increased by 3.7 per cent, from €1,054 million for the same period last year, to €1,093 million.

More Irish people went on continental holidays this summer period – 1,023,000, with only 967,000 going on continental trips for the same period last year.

However, less Irish people travelled to the US this summer, with 81,000 travelling in April – June last year, with only 76,000 travelling this year.

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