The number of overseas visitors to Ireland set a record high in the first half of this year, Tourism Ireland revealed on Tuesday.

During the first six months of this year, a total of 4.87 million overseas tourists visited Ireland, up 6.7 percent or over 300,000 more people when compared with the first half of last year, it said.

Britain was the largest contributor to the Irish tourism sector in terms of its overseas visitor number, said Tourism Ireland, adding that nearly 1.79 million tourists from Britain visited Ireland in the January-June period of this year, up 2.34 percent over a year ago.

Britain also contributed about one-fourth of all the overseas tourism revenue in the country, said Tourism Ireland, a state agency responsible for marketing the island of Ireland overseas as a leading tourist destination.

Both record growths were posted in the numbers of visitors from mainland Europe and North America in the first half of this year, it said.

The numbers of visitors to Ireland from mainland Europe and North America stood at 1.78 million people and 1.02 million people respectively in the first half of this year, up 10.2 percent and 10.7 percent respectively over a year ago.

The number of visitors to the country from other areas of the world stood at slightly over 280,000 people in the first half of this year, up by less than one percent over a year ago, it added.