Tourism growth of 11% this year

Ireland continues to go from strength to strength as a tourist hotspot as new figures show the number of visitors here grew by more than 10% in the first six months of the year.

The figures from the Central Statistics Office show that, between May and July, the total number of trips to Ireland increased by 11.1% to 2,315,700 — up 231,100 on the same period last year.

Trips by residents of North America increased by 16.6% to 488,100, while trips by British people rose by 8.5% to 836,700.