The Minister for Tourism has indicated he will look for a “substantial” increase in funds for the tourism sector in the budget.

It comes as the latest figures show that the number of overseas visitors to Ireland is up despite the ongoing effects of Brexit.

The CSO figures show that there was an increase of 22% in visitors from the North American Market and an increase of 6% from mainland Europe – while visitors from Australia and other emerging markets rose by 6%.

Overall 182,000 more tourists came to Ireland this year than last.

However, the good news has been been tempered by a 6.4% decrease in visitors from Britain.

The decrease is likely to a see a fall-off of more than 100,000 visitors from what remains Ireland’s largest market.

Announcing the figures this afternoon, Transport Minister Shane Ross said tourism agencies will need increased marketing funds to deal with the drop: