The first six months of 2005 saw well over three million visitors come to Ireland in what is an increase of 121,000 on the same period last year - according to Central Statistics Office (CSO).
Visits from British citizens increased by 2 per cent, and visits from those in other European countries rose by 1 per cent. Over the same six months, visits from North America fell by 5 per cent.
In June this year, there was a 9 per cent jump in overseas visitors compared to June 2004 - from 626,200 to 682,200.
Minister for Arts Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue welcomed the results but urged caution: "The experience of recent years across different sectors and regions has shown that we need to look behind these figures, particularly at revenue and bednights, in order to get the full picture of the season."
Mr O'Donoghue added: "This, taken with the 8.3 per cent growth recorded from Britain in June, is an encouraging performance given the extremely competitive tourism market in Britain and the slight decline experienced in 2004."
The Minister noted the six-month visitor figures from North American market are down 5 per cent on last year but said there were "some grounds for optimism - the June figures for North America show an increase of 7.2 per cent."
"The June figure . . . may reflect the beginning of a pick-up in visitor numbers for the summer months of July and August," he said.
Mr O'Donoghue concluded the tourist industry faces a challenge "to ensure that we have sufficiently compelling and attractive packages to entice our visitors to stay longer and travel more widely".