Ireland has been voted fourth in a list of 'dream destinations' by readers of a travel magazine in the United States.
Almost 8,000 readers of Virtuoso Life publication took part in the 7th annual 'Travel Dreams' survey to reveal their ideal destination, travel experience and ultimate trip of a lifetime.
Australia, Italy and New Zealand took the top three slots but Ireland was ranked ahead of France, South Africa and the Caribbean.
Tourism Ireland is welcoming the news.
CEO Niall Gibbons said "The United States is an extremely important tourism market for the island of Ireland and we believe that we are on course to achieve our best year ever from that market".
Australia and Italy top the list
"The most recent figures from the CSO showed a very positive start to 2013, with the strongest first half performance ever from North America. This year, we hope to welcome over one million American visitors, spending about US$1 billion" he added.
Virtuoso is a by-invitation-only network of over 330 travel agents specialising in luxury travel. Its magazine is published six times a year and is distributed to the homes of 200,000 travellers and top clients.
Last year, Ireland came in at number nine in the same survey.
