More than 10.6 million trips were made to Ireland last year, according to the Central Statistics Office, the highest ever recorded.
There were 10,616,300 trips made to Ireland between January and December of last year, up 6.9% on the 2017 figure.
British residents made up more than a third of that figure, accounting for 3.76m (35.4%) of the 2018 trips. That is up slightly (0.8%) on the 2017 figure, but remains 165,100 (4.2%) lower than the 2016 peak.
Meanwhile trips by residents of the rest of Europe rose above 3.8 million - a 9.5% rise year-on-year and the highest figure on record. The 2018 data also represents the first time that the region accounted for more trips in a year than Britain.
Trips by residents of the USA and Canada also enjoyed strong growth in 2018, up 13.4% to 2.38 million. There was a further 660,700 trips from residents of other areas of the world, up 6.7% year-on-year, with Asia and Oceania (including Australia and New Zealand) representing the bulk of that figure.
At the same time the CSO says that more than 8.27 million Irish residents made overseas trips in 2018, up 4.2% year-on-year. That is also the highest figure on record.
"Increases in direct air access, plus our market diversification strategy, have been key factors [in the 2018 growth]," said Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons.
"Tourism Ireland has prioritised North America and Mainland Europe, as markets which offer a strong return on investment, in terms of holiday visitors and expenditure," he said.
"While we welcome the fact that arrivals from Britain are up almost 1%, the continued uncertainty around Brexit, and its impact on outbound travel from Britain, remains a real concern," he added.
"Our focus now is on the year ahead. Tourism Ireland’s campaigns are in full swing, to build on the success of 2018.
"Our aim is to grow overseas tourism revenue in 2019 to €6.5 billion, for the island of Ireland," the Tourism Ireland boss stated.
