A new record has been set for tourist arrivals both for July and overall for the seven months since the start of the year.

The Passenger Survey of the Statistical Service shows the number of visitors in July totalled 539,626.  A 1.6% increase over the same month the previous year and the highest number ever recorded for the month of July.

For the first seven months of 2018, the number of visitors jumped 9.6% to total 2.184 million compared to 1.994 million in the same period in 2017.  This too was a new record.

For the first seven months of the year, visitors from the UK were up an annual 6.9% to 735,744.

According to the passenger survey, 87.7% of visitors in July were on holiday, 9.8%  visited friends and family and 2.5% were business travellers.