The number of trips made to Ireland by people living overseas has increased by 12.4% to 575,300 in February, according to new figures released by the Central Statistics Office today.
This marks an overall increase of 63,300 compared to twelve months earlier.
Trips by British residents increased by 13.1% to 263,500 while trips by people from European countries other than Britain increased by 18.3% to 202,100.
Trips by residents of the USA and Canada to Ireland increased by 5.4% to 79,600.
Meanwhile, the total number of overseas trips made by Irish residents during February 2018 decreased by 2.9% to 492,400.
Tourism Ireland welcomed the fact that arrivals from Britain are up 4% for the first two months of 2018, but noted that this doesn’t represent a turnaround in the long-term trend.
“The impact of Brexit on outbound travel from Britain, therefore, remains a concern,” said Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland.
“The fall in the value of sterling has made holidays and short breaks here more expensive for British visitors and has made Britain more affordable for visitors from many of our top markets,” he said.
“Competitiveness and value for money remain more important than ever in Britain this year,” he said.
He said that the picture is “very positive” as we look toward the summer season, particularly with the introduction of new long-haul flights, including the Hainan Airlines flight from Beijing and the Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong, in June.