New figures from Ireland's Central Statistics Office (CSO) have shown an 11.6 per cent decline in overseas visitor numbers during 2009, which reached their lowest levels since 2005.

More than 6.9 million people visited the country over the 12-month period - a fall of more than 900,000 on the previous year - as the number of UK tourists decreased by nearly 16 per cent to less than 3.3 million.

Visitor numbers from the US, Europe and other areas also showed a decline for the year, although there were slight growth in the number of tourists from the US and other areas during December, compared with the same period in 2008.

The number of Irish residents travelling abroad also showed a decline, with more than 7 million overseas trips made during 2009 - down 10.5 per cent on figures for the previous year.

Image: Tourism Ireland/Nutan