Irish residents spent a total of 14.1 million nights on domestic trips in Q3 2024, representing a 6.6% increase compared with Q3 2023.
The most popular domestic region for overnight trips by Irish residents in Q3 2024 was the Southern region, which accounted for 42% of all trips.
The average length of stay on domestic trips decreased from 2.9 nights in Q3 2023 to 2.7 nights in Q3 2024.
Outbound overnight travel saw Irish residents take 4.2 million trips in Q3 2024, reflecting an increase of 6.2% compared with Q3 2023.
Outbound trips by purpose showed that holiday trips increased in Q3 2024 compared with Q3 2023, while both business trips and visits to friends or relatives decreased.
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 Q3 2024 the main reason for taking domestic overnight trips was for holiday purposes (48%) followed by visits to friends or relatives (40%). Travel for business purposes made up 3% of total domestic overnight trips.
In Q3 2024 hotel stays for domestic overnight trips made up 30% of the total, while trips which involved staying with friends or relatives made up 40%.
In Q3 2024, more than two-fifths of domestic overnight trips were taken in the Southern NUTS2 region (42%), while the Eastern and Midland, and the Northern and Western regions had the same proportions (29%).
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (17 January 2025) published Household Travel Survey Quarter 3 (Q3) 2024.
Commenting on the release, Aaron Costello, Statistician in the Tourism and Travel Division, said: “These figures provide information on domestic and outbound travel by Irish residents in the months of July, August, and September (Q3) 2024.
Domestic Trips
The number of nights spent on domestic overnight trips taken in Q3 2024 was 6.6% higher than in the same period in 2023. Holiday trips accounted for the largest share of domestic nights at 55%, followed by visits to friends or relatives at 36%, while business purposes made up 2% of nights spent.
The most popular region visited by Irish residents on overnight trips in Q3 2024 was the Southern region (Clare, Tipperary, Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford, Cork, and Kerry), accounting for 2.2 million trips. The Northern and Western region (Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan, Galway, Mayo, and Roscommon) had the least number of domestic overnight trips (1.5 million trips).
Outbound Trips
Irish residents spent a total of 28.4 million nights on outbound trips. The distribution of these nights was largely dominated by holiday purposes, accounting for 74% of the total. Visits to friends or relatives represented 22% of the nights, while business-related travel made up 2%.
The total number of outbound trips in Q3 2024 increased slightly, up 6.2% compared with the same period in Q3 2023. The average length of stay for outbound overnight trips in Q3 2024 was 6.8 nights, compared with 6.9 in Q3 of last year."