Tourist numbers topped 6.3 million last year, edging slightly ahead of a record set in 2000, according to figures released yesterday.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) published tourism and travel figures for the final quarter of 2003. They show that 1.36 million overseas visitors travelled to the Republic during the quarter, compared with just over one million in the same period of 2002.

At the same time, 1.07 million Irish people travelled abroad during 2003, compared with 981,000 in 2002.

The CSO data show that increasing affluence and the accompanying rise in holiday travel has meant that the amount being spent overseas by Irish people exceeded the amount spent here by tourists for the first time. The CSO estimates that tourists here spent €4.078 billion, while Irish people spent €4.210 billion abroad.

The statistics show there was a sustained recovery in overseas visitor numbers last year, after a lean period in 2001 and 2002.

A total of 6.37 million people visited the Republic last year. This was 5 per cent ahead of 2002, and just under 1 per cent ahead of 2000, which, up to then, had been the industry's best year, when 6.065 million people visited these shores.

In 2001, the foot-and-mouth epidemic and the fall-out from the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, saw figures slump to 5.9 million.

The news comes as Tourism Ireland, the 32-county body charged with selling the country as a holiday destination, prepares for a key period in this year's marketing campaign: the week of St Patrick's Day.

The agency is bringing representatives of the travel business and media from the country's main tourism markets to the country that week, and is also planning a promotional campaign around it.

Yesterday's figures show that Britain remained the Republic's biggest tourism market, accounting for 3.72 million visitors, compared with 3.58 million in 2002.

The continental European market grew along similar lines, from 1.4 million to 1.5 million last year. The Canada/US market showed weakest growth, accounting for 904,000 visitors last year, compared with 848,000 in 2002. Visitor numbers from "other areas" were flat at 250,000.

The figures show that the majority of visitors, 4.5 million,came to this country via Britain. Just 567,000 transatlantic visitors flew here directly and less than 1.3 million continental visitors came directly to Ireland.