CSO reports record tourism numbers for first six months of year

The number of tourists visiting Ireland was up by almost 12% in the first half of the year.

New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that almost 3.9 million tourists came here during that time.

Tourism Ireland says it was the best ever January to June period for overseas visitors to Ireland.

Visitors from North America were up almost 15% on the first half of 2014 and tourist numbers from mainland Europe up 13%.

CEO of Tourism Ireland, Niall Gibbons, said it is great news for Ireland.

He said: "It's very positive news, we're delighted to see the very strong momentum continuing into the high season. We've seen 3.9 million people taking trips to Ireland, that's an increase of almost 12%.

"And what is encouraging is that all of our main market areas - Great Britain, mainland Europe, North America and other areas as well like Australia and China - are up double digits, anything between 9% and 13%.

"It's the best first half of the year performance ever and it means that when you look back over the last five years, trips to ireland are up 48%."