According to research released by Expedia today, there is increased demand from European visitors for Ireland with British tourists surpassing the Americans as our top tourists for St. Patrick’s Day 
 
Kerry is attracting an increasing number of tourists with demand for Killarney up 46% for Paddy’s Day weekend. 

Dublin remains the most popular destination for tourists for the week of the St Patrick’s Festival with 400,000 expected to attend the parade on St Patrick’s Day. It is estimated that demand for Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day is up 13%. 
 
Tourists from the UK have overtaken the Americans as the top market for St. Patrick’s Day demand for Ireland. UK demand for Ireland over the Paddy’s Day weekend is up 13% on 2014 figures for the same period. 

Furthermore, Irish people can expect to encounter a larger number of Europeans this year with demand for Ireland from Germans and Italians up by more than 50% over the Paddy’s weekend. Scandinavian tourist numbers have also increased, with visitor demand from Norway and Sweden increasing by a third to bring them into the top ten foreign visitors for St. Patrick’s Day in 2015.
 
Dublin, Galway, Cork, Limerick and Killarney were named as the top 5 St Patrick’s Day destinations in Ireland.
 
Andy Washington, Managing Director of Expedia.ie said: "We’ve been working closely with Tourism Ireland to promote Ireland for St. Patrick’s day and it’s great to see tourists from around the world taking the opportunity to come to Ireland to be at the heart of the celebrations. The festivities are a vital part of Irish culture, and help promote tourism to Ireland throughout the year. It’s a national holiday which is probably celebrated in more countries than any other, but there’s no better place to be on Paddy’s Day than Ireland."

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