10% of all US travel to Europe came to Ireland last year as tourist numbers soar

A record number of tourists visited here this year — with 10% of all US travel to Europe coming to Ireland.

An end-of-year tourism review by Tourism Ireland revealed that 7.9m tourists visited this year — up 11% on 2014. The total tourism spend was €4.2bn — up 16%.

There has been growth in all markets with the US, Canada, Germany, France, Spain and Australia all turning in record performances. Britain, Ireland’s largest tourism market, also recorded strong growth of 10% this year.