Tourist numbers visiting Ireland are up but their stays are getting shorter

The number of foreign visitors arriving into Ireland increased by 8.5 per cent last month though they spent less time in the country, according to the latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures.

There were 622,300 foreign trips made to Ireland, up from 573,300 in May last year. The total amount they spent was €810.6 million, an increase of 29 per cent on May 2023.

The average visitor to Ireland spent €1,303 on a trip to Ireland including flights this May. This is up €207 or a 18.9 per cent increase on last year.

The largest contingent per country of visitors (34.9 per cent) came from Britain, followed by the United States (20.2 per cent), and then Germany (7.4 per cent).

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The average stay has decreased from 7.8 nights to 7.2 nights, a drop of 7.7 per cent. A total of 4,462,100 bed nights were spent in the country.

Visitors from continental Europe spent more nights in the country than any other residency group, accounting for 1,669,100 (37.4 per cent) of the nights, the CSO figures reveal.

The next most important visitor group in terms of nights spent was the United States and Canada, making up 1,248,800 (28 per cent) of the total nights.

Visitors from Britain were the third-most important, accounting for a further 1,041,300 (23.3 per cent) of the nights.

Almost half of all visitors to Ireland stayed in a hotel, or 311,900 in total. This was significantly up on the 234,000 who used hotels in 2023 though that type of accommodation has become scarce in many parts of Ireland because many are being used to house Ukrainian refugees.

Another 204,700 (32.9 per cent) of the visitors used family or own property as their main accommodation type, the CSO found. A further 35,300 (5.7 per cent) of the visitors used guest house/bed & breakfast as their main accommodation type, while 28,400 (4.6 per cent) of foreign visitors used rented/self-catering as their main accommodation type.

In total, 2,057,800 passengers departed Ireland on overseas routes in May 2024, an increase of 8.4 per cent compared with May 2023. The majority of departing passengers (61 per cent) were Irish residents heading outbound for tourism or other purposes.

A further 8.8 per cent were same day visitors, comprising Northern Ireland residents heading outbound via an airport or seaport in the Republic of Ireland (3.3 per cent), foreign-resident transfer passengers (4.6 per cent) or other foreign resident same-day visitors (0.9 per cent).

Some 30.2 per cent of the departing passengers were foreign resident overnight visitors, constituting 622,300 visitors in total.

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