Irish visits abroad grew 13 per cent from October to December in 2007 compared with the same period the previous year, according to the latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures.
A total of 1,734,000 trips were taken during that quarter, with overseas trips abroad on transatlantic routes growing 23 per cent compared with the fourth quarter 2006, and trips on continental European routes rising 16 per cent.
Of the Irish visits taken abroad during the quarter, 148,000 were transatlantic, 908,000 were to continental Europe, and 679,000 were to Britain. The reasons given for these visits were 232 for business reasons, 911 for holiday and recreation purposes, 499 for visits to friends and relatives, and 92 for other reasons.
Irish holiday and leisure visits abroad accounted for 65 per cent of all transatlantic trips during the period.
There were 1,756,000 overseas visits to Ireland during the fourth quarter 2007, a 3 per cent increase over the 2006 quarter.
The number of visits from European countries grew 8 per cent, visits by residents of the United States and Canada grew by 6 per cent, visits from Britain were almost unchanged, while those from other regions dropped 3 per cent.
Expenditure figures for the October-December quarter show a net outflow of €372 million: Earnings from those coming to Ireland was €1,024 million, and expenditure by Irish abroad was €1,396 million.
There were 98,000 same-day visits to Ireland in the period, of which 76,000 were from Britain, and there were 41,000 same-day trips overseas by Irish residents.
The number of bed nights spent on overseas visits to Ireland was up 5 per cent in the quarter, with the number of nights spent in hotels increasing by 14 per cent.
