Tourism expecting 'best ever year' after 20% increases in visitors
There has been an increase of more than 18% in the number of visitors to Ireland in the three months to the end of January.
Some 271,000 extra visitors came here, with the largest increases from mainland Europe at 21%, North America 19% and Britain, up 17.5%.
A 17% growth in overseas visitors was recorded in January alone.
Tourism Ireland is now expecting 2017 to be our most successful year ever.
Central marketing director with Tourism Ireland Mark Henry said there had been strong growth between November and January.
"The good news is that growth is coming from everywhere," he said. "With the weakness of the euro, we could anticipate that we'd see good growth from Britain, and we are…
"Likewise with the strength of the dollar you could say 'let's hope we see more Americans' and we're seeing a nearly 20% increase.
"But in fact it's not just those countries - all across Europe we're seeing 20% increases so I have to say it's a very positive thing for the year ahead."
