British surge sees number of visitors rise in last quarter

A strong resurgence in the number of visitors from Britain has resulted in a 2.7% rise in the number of overseas tourists to Ireland in the past three months.

Latest CSO figures show 1,145,900 visits to Ireland between December and February — an increase of 30,600 on the corresponding period 12 months earlier.

The rise was largely helped by strong growth in trips by Ireland’s most important tourism market — visitors from Britain were up by 6.6%, or 36,000, to 577,600.