Tourists visiting Dublin will be offered a new discount travel card from today.

The Leap visitor card offers tourists 72 hours of unlimited travel in Dublin on Luas, DART, Dublin Bus and Iarnród Éireann's short hop zone.

The card, specially designed for and targeted at foreign visitors to Dublin, will only be available at Dublin Airport Leap card outlets.

It will cost €19.50 and will also include the return trip between the airport and the city centre on the Airlink Bus.

The National Transport Authority received European Union funding for the initiative.

The authority is also launching a separate product for students at language schools in the Dublin area.

The Leap trainee card will be available to students through their language schools and from Dublin Bus.

Costs for this card range from €46.50 - €119, depending on the duration of stay.