CSO: Number of visitors to Ireland tumbles

The latest Central Statistics Office figures show that the number of trips to Ireland from overseas has tumbled by almost 14%.

In September 2009, the number of overseas trips to Ireland fell by 13.9% to 594,600 from twelve months earlier - virtually the same as the number of trips to Ireland in September 2004 (596,000).

The number of trips to Ireland by UK residents fell by 14.8% to 271,600 while those from elsewhere in Europe were down 17% to 192,300.

Trips by residents of North America fell by 2.2% to 99,700.

Irish residents made 628,800 overseas trips in September 2009 and this was down by 13.4% from the same month a year earlier.