Overseas trips to Ireland rise 9.9%

The number of visitors to Ireland from Britain jumped by 26 per cent in March, although there was a marked decline in tourists from other regions.

New figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) also show a 10 per cent increase in visitors from Britain during the first quarter of the year, compared to the same period in 2007.

Overall, there were 365,700 visits from British citizens in March, up 26.4 per cent versus the same month a year ago and a rise of 105,900 sequentially.

During the first three months of the year 849,500 trips to Ireland from Britain were recorded compared to 771,500 for the same period in 2007.

Overseas trips made by Irish citizens increased by 14 per cent to 666,500 in March, compared to the same period in 2007.

The Minister for Tourism, Mr Martin Cullen, welcomed the rise in visitor figures from Britain this afternoon, saying that they would ease concerns expressed by the tourism industry about the relative strength of the euro.

According to the latest figures, visitors from other European countries declined 6 per cent to 185,000 in March 2008 versus the same period in 2007.

The number of trips to Ireland from US residents fell by 8.6 per cent to 64,900 and from long haul destinations were down 6 per cent to 18,300.

On a quarterly basis, 1.5 million overseas visitors came to Ireland during the first three months of the year representing an increase of over 4 per cent versus the corresponding period in 2007.

Britain, France, Germany and the United States remain the principal areas of residence of visitors to Ireland, according to CSO.

Mr Cullen said that the latest figures were "encouraging" coming ahead of the tourism season.

"The fundamentals of the industry are sound and the necessary measures are in place, including record resources for overseas marketing,to ensure that 2008 is another good year for Irish tourism", the Minister said.