In 2025, Irish residents took 15.1 million overnight trips outside of Ireland, reflecting an 11% increase compared with 2024.
Holiday was the primary purpose of overnight trips outside of Ireland (60%) in 2025, ahead of Visting Friends/Relatives (24%) and Business (9%).
Irish residents took a total of 15.3 million overnight domestic trips in 2025, an 8% decrease compared with 2024.
Outbound overnight travel saw Irish residents take 3.4 million trips in Q4 2025, reflecting a 6% rise compared with Q4 2024.
Irish residents took a total of 3.5 million overnight domestic trips in Q4 2025, representing a 12% decline compared with the number of trips in Q4 2024.
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 Q4 2025, the main reason for taking domestic overnight trips was for holiday purposes (41%) followed closely by visits to friends or relatives (38%). Travel for business purposes made up 9% of total domestic overnight trips.
In Q4 2025, the main accommodation type reported for domestic overnight trips was Hotel stays in 47% of trips, while stays with Friends/Relatives were the main accommodation type in 37% of trips.
In Q4 2025, almost two-fifths of domestic overnight trips were taken in the Southern NUTS2 region (38%), while the Eastern & Midland, and the Northern & Western regions made up 35% and 27% respectively.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (18 March 2026) published Household Travel Survey Quarter 4 (Q4) and Year 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 October, November and December (Q4) 2025 and the full year results for 2025.
Domestic Trips
Domestic overnight trips fell 12% in Q4 2025 compared to Q4 2024.
The number of nights spent by Irish residents on domestic overnight trips taken in Q4 2025 decreased by 16% compared with Q4 2024. Visits to friends or relatives accounted for the largest share of total domestic nights at 40%, followed by holiday trips (38%). Business travel represented 6% of all overnight stays.
Outbound Trips
The total number of overnight trips outside of Ireland in Q4 2025 increased by 6% compared with Q4 2024.
Irish residents spent a total of 16 million nights on overnight trips outside of Ireland in Q4 2025. The distribution of these nights was led by holiday purposes, accounting for 57% of the total. Visits to friends or relatives represented 28% of the nights, while business-related travel made up 9%.
The average length of stay for overnight trips outside of Ireland was 4.8 nights, versus 5.3 in Q4 of last year.
Full Year 2025 Results
During 2025, domestic travel accounted for 15.3 million trips, resulting in 33.4 million nights. Domestic overnight trips were down 8% compared with 2024. The average domestic trip duration in 2025 was in line with 2024 at 2.2 nights.
Meanwhile, Irish residents made 15.1 million overnight trips outside of Ireland in 2025, generating 82.9 million nights. Such trips were up 11% compared with 2024. The average trip duration was 5.5 nights, versus 5.9 in 2024.”