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Outbound overnight travel saw Irish residents take 2.9 million trips in Quarter 1 (Q1) 2025, reflecting a 16% increase compared with Q1 2024.
Estimated expenditure on outbound overnight trips was €2.2 billion, an increase of 6% compared with €2.1 billion in the same quarter in 2024.
The number of nights spent on outbound overnight trips was 13.8 million, an increase of 6% versus Q1 2024, with an average length of stay of 4.7 nights.
Irish residents completed 2.8 million domestic overnight trips in Q1 2025, representing an 8% decrease compared with the number of trips in Q1 2024.
The number of domestic trips where a hotel was the main accommodation type, increased from 1.0 million trips in Q1 2024 to 1.2 million trips in Q1 2025.
The Household Travel Survey is carried out by CSO to measure national tourism (i.e. domestic and outbound tourism by Irish residents) and this release contains estimates of the numbers of domestic and outbound overnight trips and same day visits made by Irish residents.
Statistics on foreign visitors to Ireland are sourced from the CSO Passenger Survey, which is carried out at Irish airports and seaports, and presented in the Inbound Tourism series. Note that the Inbound Tourism series does not capture data on residents of Northern Ireland.
To gain a better understanding of internal tourism in Ireland (i.e. both domestic and inbound tourism), users should refer to both Household Travel Survey (for domestic travel data) and Inbound Tourism (for inbound visitor data), noting that at present figures for residents of Northern Ireland are not included in either series.
In Q1 2025, the main reason for taking domestic overnight trips was to visit friends or relatives (42%), followed by holiday purposes (36%). Travel for business purposes made up 7% of total domestic overnight trips.
In Q1 2025, the main accommodation type reported for domestic overnight trips was friends/relatives in 43% of trips, while hotels were the main accommodation type in 42% of trips.
In Q1 2025, just less than two-fifths of domestic overnight trips were taken in the Southern NUTS2 region (38%), closely followed by the Eastern & Midland region (35%).
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (13 June 2025) published Household Travel Survey Quarter 1 (Q1) 2025.
Commenting on the release, Aaron Costello, Statistician in the Tourism and Travel Division, said: “The figures provide information on domestic and outbound travel by Irish residents in the months of January, February and March (Q1) 2025.
Domestic Trips
The number of nights spent on domestic overnight trips taken in Q1 2025 was 10% lower than in the same period in 2024. Visits to friends or relatives accounted for the largest share of domestic nights at 46%, followed by holiday trips (34%). Business travel represented 6% of all domestic overnight stays.
In Q1 2025, friends or relatives were the main type of accommodation used in 43% of domestic trips, closely followed by hotels (42%). Self-catering or rented properties were reported as the main type of accommodation in 5% of domestic trips.
The most popular region visited by Irish residents on overnight trips in Q1 2025 was the Southern region (Clare, Tipperary, Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford, Cork, and Kerry), accounting for 1 million trips. The Northern & Western region (Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan, Galway, Mayo, and Roscommon) had the least number of domestic overnight trips (0.8 million trips).
Outbound Trips
Irish residents spent a total of 13.8 million nights on outbound trips, and most of these were for holiday purposes (53%). Visits to friends or relatives represented 36% of the nights, while business-related travel made up 5%.
The total number of outbound trips in Q1 2025 increased by 16% when compared with the same period in Q1 2024. The average length of stay for outbound overnight trips was 4.7 nights, down from 5.2 nights in Q1 of 2024.”