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Tourism Minister Shane Ross today welcomed the publication of official data on overseas travel for 2017 from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), which showed an increase of +3.6% in overseas visits to Ireland for 2017 compared to 2016. There was a record number of overseas visits to Ireland in 2017 at 9,932,100.

Commenting on the tourism figures, Minister Ross said:

“Figures released by the CSO today confirm that 2017 has been a record-breaking year for overseas visits to Ireland. This is a fantastic achievement given that 2016 was an exceptional year in its own right and, also, in view of the fall in visitor numbers from our largest market, Great Britain.

 Today’s CSO figures on Overseas Travel show:

• At over 9.932 million visits, overall trips to Ireland were up 3.6% in 2017 compared to 2016.
• Visits from Mainland Europe grew by 5.5% in 2017, to 3,482,400 visits
• North America registered an increase of 16.2% for 2017 (2,101,500 visits)
• Visits from Great Britain were down by 5% for 2017 (3,728,900 visits)
• Visits from the rest of the world (mostly long-haul and developing markets) totalled 619,300 for 2017 (representing an increase of 12.6%).

Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said:

“Today’s figures confirm that 2017 was another record-breaking year for overseas tourism to Ireland, with almost 10 million people arriving here – an increase of almost +4%, or 347,700 additional overseas visitors, when compared with 2016. We’ve seen exceptional results from North America in 2017 – more than 2.1 million visitors, up over +16% on 2016. Tourism Ireland’s campaigns are in full swing, to build on the success of 2017. Our aim is to grow overseas tourism revenue in 2018 by +5%, to €6 billion, for the island of Ireland.”