Outbound overnight travel saw Irish residents take 4.6 million trips in Q3 2025, reflecting a 10% increase compared with Q3 2024.
The average length of stay on outbound trips decreased from 6.8 nights in Q3 2024 to 6.3 nights in Q3 2025.
Irish residents spent a total of 12.6 million nights on domestic trips in Q3 2025, representing a 10% decline compared with the number of nights spent in Q3 2024.
The most popular domestic region for overnight trips by Irish residents in Q3 2025 was the Southern region (Clare, Tipperary, Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford, Cork, and Kerry), which accounted for 49% of all trips.
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 2025, the main reason for taking domestic overnight trips was for holiday purposes (53%) followed by visits to friends or relatives (33%). Travel for business purposes made up 4% of total domestic overnight trips.
In Q3 2025, stays with friends or relatives for domestic overnight trips made up 35% of the total, while trips which involved hotel stays accounted for 28%.
In Q3 2025, almost half of all overnight trips were taken in the Southern NUTS2 region (49%), while the Northern & Western, and the Eastern & Midland regions had comparable proportions, representing 26% and 24% respectively.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (15 December 2025) published Household Travel Survey Quarter 3 (Q3) 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 July, August, and September (Q3) 2025.
Domestic Trips
The number of nights spent on domestic overnight trips taken in Q3 2025 decreased by 10% compared with the same period in 2024. Holiday trips accounted for the largest share of domestic nights at 60%, followed by visits to friends or relatives at 29%. Business travel represented 3% of all overnight stays.
The most popular region visited by Irish residents on overnight trips in Q3 2025 was the Southern region (Clare, Tipperary, Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford, Cork, and Kerry), accounting for 2.3 million trips. The Eastern & Midland region (Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, Meath, Louth, Longford, Westmeath, Offaly, and Laois) had the least number of domestic overnight trips (1.2 million trips).
Outbound Trips
Irish residents spent a total of 29.1 million nights on outbound trips. The distribution of these nights was led by holiday purposes, accounting for 75% of the total. Visits to friends or relatives represented 18% of the nights, while business-related travel made up 3%.
The total number of outbound trips in Q3 2025 increased, showing a 10% rise compared with the same period in Q3 2024. The average length of stay for outbound overnight trips was 6.3 nights, versus 6.8 in Q3 of last year.”