Business
Number of tourists to Ireland and amount they spent rebounds sharply
DCM Editorial Summary: This story has been independently rewritten and summarised for DCM readers to highlight key developments relevant to the region. Original reporting by Irish Times, click this post to read the original article.
The number of tourists who visited Ireland and the amount of money they spent here rebounded sharply last month compared with a year earlier, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.
Some 429,800 foreign residents completed visits to Ireland in the month, a figure that was up 27 per cent on January 2025, which marked the beginning of a year when tourism numbers were consistently down.
Despite the bounce last month, visitor numbers have not returned to the level seen two years ago, with last month’s figure still down 5 per cent on January 2024.
The average length of stay last month was 8.3 nights, down 0.1 nights, but the overall number of nights spent here climbed 27 per cent to 3.6 million. Again, however, this number was down on the 2024 figure, this time by 6 per cent.
Visitors spent €287 million on their trips – excluding fares – marking an upturn of 34 per cent year-on-year, but down 3 per cent on January 2024.
When fares are included, last month’s spending rises to €396 million. The costliest subheading was €184 million on day-to-day spending, which includes incidental expenditures such as eating out, entrance fees, public transport.
The next costliest subheading was fares at €109 million, while accommodation costs came to about €97 million. Prepayments, which includes items such as car hire and pre-booked tickets, were estimated at €7 million.
The greatest number of visitors came from Britain, amounting to 43 per cent of the total. They were followed by visitors from continental Europe (36 per cent); North America (14 per cent); and the rest of the world (7 per cent).
Compared with January last year, visitors from Britain were up 24 per cent; those from continental Europe increased by 30 per cent; while visitors from North America rose 27 per cent; and those from the rest of the world climbed 29 per cent.
Some 197,000 (46 per cent) said visiting friends and relatives was the main reason for their trip. The next most common reason was for a holiday at 128,800 people (30 per cent). A further 76,500 (18 per cent) came for business or work-related reasons.
Some 213,000 (50 per cent) stayed in their own property or with family as their main accommodation type. Another 169,200 (39 per cent) stayed in a hotel, while 15,600 (4 per cent) used rented or self-catering as their main accommodation type.
Broken down by residency, European visitors spent more nights here than any other residency group, accounting for 1,257,100 nights (35 per cent).
The British made up 1,021,700 (28 per cent) of the total nights, while other visitors, excluding North America, were the third most important, accounting for a further 684,500 nights (19 per cent).
Visitors from North America made up 623,400 nights (17 per cent).
