DUBLIN: The number of trips to Ireland from people overseas rose by 14.1% in the first three months of the year compared to the same time last year.
New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that a total of 1.531 million trips were made to Ireland from abroad compared to 1.343 million the same time in 2014.
The number of nights spent here by overseas travellers also rose by 12.6% in the first quarter, rising to 10.01 million from 8.89 million the same time in 2014.
Today’s figures also show that earnings from visitors here rose by 11.6% to €780m in the first quarter of 2015 from €699m in the first quarter of 2015.
The CSO said that when fares are excluded, total expenditure rose from €534m to €590m, a rise of 10%.
Meanwhile, the number of trips made by Irish residents overseas rose by 13.2% to 1.306 million from 1.154 million in the first quarter.
The CSO said the average duration of overseas trips made by Irish people increased from seven nights in the first quarter of last year to 7.1 in the first quarter of this year.
It also noted that total travel and tourism expenditure by Irish people when abroad rose by 9.8% to €794m from €723m.
