[caption id="attachment_67974" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Leo Varadkar. "]
There will be an annual growth in visitors to Ireland this year for the first time since 2007, according to Minister for Tourism Leo Varadkar.
Mr. Varadkar's comments, made on Monday, followed the publication of figures by the Central Statistics Office which show an increase of 6.5 percent in the number of overseas trips to Ireland from July to September of this year. The figures also record a sharp fall in the number of trips abroad being taken by Irish citizens.
A total of 2,126,200 people visited Ireland during the three-month period representing an overall increase of 129,600 on the same period last year. The total number of overseas trips by Irish residents fell by seven per cent, or 150,000, to 1,987,200 compared to the same period in 2010.
Mr. Varadkar said the increase in visits was due to the coalition government's jobs initiative.
"These latest figures, which cover the period from when the jobs initiative took effect, indicate the measures are helping to sustain the rebound earlier in the year and we are going to see annual growth in visitor numbers for the first time since 2007," he said.
The greatest increase was in visits from Britain, which was already Ireland's largest overseas market, with 6.8 percent more travelers visiting during the period.
A total of 910,500 trips were made to Ireland from Britain during this time.
Visits from other EU states increased by 5.8 percent (up 40,900 to 741,800), while trips from North America were up 5.2 percent, or 17,200, to 350,000. Trips from all other areas rose by 12.3 percent, or 13,600, to a total of 123,800.
