There was a sharp increase in the number of trips made to Ireland in the first three months of 2015, according to the Central Statistics Office.
More than 1.53 million trips were made between January and March, up 14.1% (188,800) on the same period of last year.
It follows solid growth in the number of trips to Ireland last year, which was up 7.2% compared to 2013.
The first quarter performance is also marginally below figures last seen in the opening months of 2008, when just over 1.54 million trips were made to the country.
Visitors from Britain represented almost half of all trips made between January and March 2015, with 725,800 coming from that country, up 14.2% year-on-year.
Residents of the United States and Canada made up a further 12.5% (191,200) of visitors, rising by 6.9% compared to the same quarter of last year.
Meanwhile visitors from Germany accounted for 5.6% of all trips, up 4.5%.
Visits from Italy saw the highest rate of growth in the quarter, meanwhile, up 36.2% year-on-year to 59,800.
The number of overseas trips made by Irish residents between January and March was also up compared to the same quarter of last year, rising 13.2% to 1.3 million.
This is the highest figured recorded since 2010 – though is still well below the numbers seen in early 2008.
