The number of foreign tourists visiting Ireland in June was down 2% on the same time last year, according to the latest data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

New data from the CSO shows that 654,000 tourists arrived in the country last month - an increase of 6% in comparison with June 2023.

The 2% decline last month was preceded by sizeable falls in visitor numbers between January and May, compared with the same months last year.

A fall of 25% was recorded in January, followed by a 30% drop in February, a 15% reduction in March, while the numbers in May were down 10%.

The CSO figures also showed the number of tourists from Great Britain visiting Ireland in June fell by 1% when compared to the same time last year.

Visitors from Continental Europe were down by 6%, with the numbers from the Rest of the World falling by 20%.

However, the level of tourists from North America to Ireland was up by 5%.

The CSO data reveals visitors in June spent €647m during their trips, which is down 6% compared with the same month last year, but up 8% on June 2023.

The data is based on a CSO Passenger Survey collected from about 13,000 departing passengers per month at ports and airports by CSO Tourist Enumerator staff.

The average length of stay by the visitors last month was 7.9 nights, up from an average of 7.3 nights in both June 2024 and June 2023.

The highest number of tourists came from Great Britain (34%), followed by Continental Europe (31%), North America (30%) and the Rest of the World (5%).

Mr Gregg Patrick, statistician in the Tourism and Travel Division of the CSO said the number of nights spent by foreign visitors in June was "almost 5.2 million, an increase of 6% compared with June 2024 and up 14% compared with 2023."

He said the most frequent reason for the visitors' trips was for holiday or leisure (47%), while almost one in three trips (30%) were to visit friends or relatives.

Mr Patrick said the expenditure by the visitors, excluding fares, was €647m.

"Visitors from Great Britain accounted for €118m (18%) of this spend, Continental Europe for €200m (31%), North America for €283m (44%), and visitors from the Rest of the World for €47m (7%)," he added.