Nearly 111,000 people went abroad between last September and December, a 10 per cent rise over the same quarter in 2014.

Most of that volume and the increase were in trips to other EU member states, according to the latest estimates from the National Statistics Office.

Italy and the UK remained the most popular destinations, with a share of 54 per cent of total tourist trips.

An increase in the total nights spent by outbound tourists was also reported, 856,303 nights – an increase of 1.7 per cent.

They also spent more money – €106.5 million in all, an average of €960 per trip and a 7.7 per cent rise over the year before.

Total outbound tourist trips for the year reached 428,033, an increase of 9.6 per cent, the NSO said.