Just over 1.2 million people visited Ireland in the first quarter of this year, up 8.4% on the same period last year, according to the Central Statistics Office.
The number of people travelling here from the US and Canada jumped by 22.7% in the period. Visits on cross-channel routes were up 6.5%, while continental European visits were 12.8% higher.
The number of Irish people travelling abroad in the first quarter was just over one million, up 10.6% on the same period a year earlier. Transatlantic routes again showed strong growth, up 20%.
Visitors to Ireland spend €675m, but Irish people spent €764m.
* Separate CSO figures showed that the seasonally adjusted volume of industrial production for the three months to April was down 1.5% on the previous three-month period. Production in April was 4% higher than in the same month last year.
