DUBLIN, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Ireland saw a total of 9.93 million arrivals of overseas visitors in 2017, up 3.63 percent year-on-year, the country's Central Statistics Office (CSO) said on Wednesday.
The overseas visitors generated 6.49 billion euros (8.02 billion U.S. dollars) in earnings for the country in the year, an increase of 6.94 percent from the previous year, said the office.
Last year, nearly 92 percent of the overseas travellers visited the island country by air, and the rest of them arrived by sea, it said.
In terms of the source of overseas visitors, Britain is ranked first place by contributing 3.729 million or 37.5 percent of overseas trips to Ireland in 2017, followed by the United States and Canada contributing 2.101 million, and Germany contributing 681,000, the CSO said in a report.
Last year, 4.71 million or 47 percent of the overseas visitors traveled to Ireland for holiday, leisure or recreation, and the season from July to September is preferred by most overseas visitors to Ireland, the CSO said.
The average length of stay of the overseas visitors to Ireland in 2017 was 6.9 nights, remaining unchanged compared with the previous year, the report said.
The CSO report also showed that a total of 6.594 billion euros (8.16 billion dollars) were spent by Irish residents on 7.939 million overseas trips in 2017, up 3.8 percent and 7.2 percent respectively from 2016.
