In its first Irish Insights report, Airbnb has revealed that Dublin saw an increase of 47% in guests in 2017, vastly outstripping the overall rate of increase in tourist numbers.

Ireland welcomed almost 9.25 million overseas visitors during January to November. This represents growth of +3.7% or 330,000 additional visitors on 2016.

In Dublin 547,000 people stayed in an Airbnb, with a typical host earning €4,100 over the year. The influx of tourists brought an estimated economic boost of €279M for the capital, Airbnb said.

Dublin county also topped the poll for the longest stays per guest per trip with a large proportion of guests travelling for business.

Dublin also received the highest percentage of visitors from the rest of Ireland as well as the highest percentage (46%) of Dubliners booking in the county.

There was €227M generated in economic activity outside of Dublin from Airbnb guests, the company said.

Overall, €506M in economic activity was generated across the county by hosts and guests.

Cork and Kerry saw the second-highest earnings for hosts with south-west homeowners earning €4K over the year.

More than half of the guests, 62%, were from Europe, 32% were from the U.S., 3% from Australia and 1% were from Latin America, Africa and Middle East and Asia.

“The platform has spread tourism footfall out of city centres and has provided accommodation options in previously undiscovered parts of the country," Airbnb Ireland Site Lead and Global Head of Customer Experience Aisling Hassell said. "While Dublin City will always be a popular destination for visitors, Airbnb has put new towns and villages on the map. Domestic travel has also seen a surge in popularity; in fact almost double the number of residents in Ireland are travelling on Airbnb within the country compared to a year ago.”