Ireland's tourism sector continued to rebound between May and July, after figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) revealed a 9 per cent increase in overseas visitor numbers.

It follows the announcement last month that the total number of inbound visitors for Q2 had grown by more than 15 per cent, when compared with the same period in 2010.

During the three-month period ending July 2011, visitor numbers continued to grow, with a 9.3 per cent increase in travellers from both North America and European countries.

However, there was a 1.8 per cent decline in the number of Irish residents travelling abroad between May and July, when compared with the same period last year.

Ireland's minister for transport, tourism and sport, Leo Varadkar, said: "Developments in the British market are particularly significant, as this is our largest source market. The number of visitors from Britain this year so far has grown by more than 9 per cent."

"It's important to bear in mind that these figures follow the significant drop in tourism numbers in earlier years, particularly during last year's ash cloud crisis and severe weather conditions.

"Nevertheless, the government's tourism policies are clearly working. So far, we have cut VAT on tourism products, and brought in other measures on employers' PRSI and a special visa waiver scheme."

Image: Tourism Ireland/Nutan