There has been a slight decrease in visitors to Ireland from abroad so far this year.
New figures from the Central Statistics Office show about 5,631,300 trips were made to Ireland this year. Last year during the same period 5,652,500 such trips were made.
Despite this there has been an increase in travel to Ireland late in the year. From August to October 2011 approximately 1,919,800 trips were made, but this figure has increased by 29,800 trips this year.
Over 116,000 more trips have been made abroad by Irish people this year than were made by visitors to the country. This is a significant change from last year, when 142,500 more trips were made to Ireland than journeys away.
The most frequent visitors to Ireland this year have been from Great Britain, the Benelux countries, France, Germany and Italy.