Some 304,300 foreign visitors completed a trip to Ireland in February 2025, a decrease of 30% compared with February 2024.
The visitors spent €196 million on their trips (excluding fares), down 31% compared with February 2024.
The largest contingent of visitors came from Great Britain (49%), and the second largest came from the United States (10%).
The most frequent reason for travelling to Ireland was to visit family or friends (37%).
The visitors stayed a total of 1.8 million nights in the country, a drop of 33% when compared with February 2024.
The average length of stay for foreign resident overnight visitors was 5.9 nights, down from an average of 6.2 nights in February 2024.
The Inbound Tourism series estimates the number of overseas foreign resident visits to Ireland and the value of these visits to Ireland’s tourism industry. The series is based on the CSO Passenger Survey, which is carried out at Irish airports and seaports. Note that the Inbound Tourism series does not capture data on residents of Northern Ireland visiting Ireland as a tourism destination. However, the series does present estimates on the number of Northern Ireland resident trips to overseas destinations travelling via Ireland. The series also presents estimates of the number of trips made by Irish residents heading overseas (i.e. outbound tourism). To gain a better understanding of internal tourism in Ireland (i.e. both inbound and domestic tourism), users should refer to both Inbound Tourism (for inbound visitor data) and Household Travel Survey (for domestic travel data).
Coinciding with this February 2025 release, the annual Inbound Tourism series in the Database system has been updated with results for 2024. These annual results provide more comprehensive and detailed statistics than the monthly series, including a more extensive country of residency breakdown of the visitors and information on visitors’ trips to Northern Ireland. Links to these annual results are here. The updated annual datasets are tables ITA05 to ITA15.
Foreign visitors in the context of this release refers to overseas residents who have stayed at least one night in Ireland. These overseas residents include both Irish and non-Irish nationals but specifically exclude residents of Northern Ireland.
Continental Europe, North America and the Rest of the World are referred to as ‘Other Europe (3)’, ‘USA & Canada’ and ‘Other Residencies’ respectively in the tables that follow.
Foreign visitors who depart Ireland via the airports and seaports of Northern Ireland are not captured in the survey.
Some 304,300 foreign residents completed their visits to Ireland in February 2025, a decrease of 30% compared with February 2024. These visitors spent 1.8 million nights in Ireland, a drop of 33% compared with the same month in 2024. The visitors’ average length of stay was 5.9 nights, down from an average of 6.2 nights in February 2024. The visitors spent €195.6 million on their trips, a decrease of 31% compared with February 2024. The average cost of their trips excluding fares in February 2025 was €643, whereas the average cost 12 months previously was €655.
| Inbound Tourism, February 2025 versus February 2024 | ||||
| Feb-24 | Feb-25 | Change | ||
| Visitors ('000s) | 433.3 | 304.3 | -129.0 | -29.8% |
| Nights ('000s) | 2,669.0 | 1,797.0 | -872.0 | -32.7% |
| Average length of stay (nights) | 6.2 | 5.9 | -0.3 | -4.1% |
| Expenditure - excluding fares (€million) | 283.7 | 195.6 | -88.1 | -31.1% |
| Mean expenditure - excluding fares (€) | 655 | 643 | -12 | -1.8% |
| 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
| Jan | 400 | 451.9 | 338.9 |
| Feb | 337 | 433.3 | 304.3 |
| Mar | 425.2 | 521.8 | |
| Apr | 461.9 | 549.1 | |
| May | 573.3 | 622.3 | |
| Jun | 619.9 | 669.5 | |
| Jul | 650.2 | 655.4 | |
| Aug | 737.6 | 763.6 | |
| Sep | 582.1 | 578.1 | |
| Oct | 577.4 | 548.1 | |
| Nov | 447.5 | 407.7 | |
| Dec | 445.2 | 390.7 |
In total, 1,288,700 passengers departed Ireland on overseas routes in February 2025, no change compared with February 2024. The majority of departing passengers (69.5%) were Irish residents heading outbound for tourism or other purposes. A further 6.9% were same day visitors, comprising Northern Ireland residents heading outbound via an airport or seaport in the Republic of Ireland (4.2%), foreign resident transfer passengers (1.7%), or other foreign resident same day visitors (0.9%). Some 23.6% of the departing passengers were foreign resident overnight visitors, constituting 304,300 visitors in total. The remainder of this release focuses exclusively on the characteristics and activities of these foreign resident overnight visitors (referred to simply as foreign visitors).
Of the 304,300 foreign visitors who departed Ireland on overseas routes in February 2025, the highest proportion (49.4%) was from Great Britain, accounting for 150,400 of the visitors in total. The second highest proportion (10.2%) was from the United States, accounting for 31,200 visitors. The third highest proportion (5.8%) came from Germany comprising a further 17,800 visitors. By way of comparison, in February 2024 there were 199,000 visitors from Great Britain, 46,600 from the United States, and 21,900 from Germany.
Foreign visitors who departed Ireland on overseas routes in February 2025 spent a total of 1,797,000 nights in the country. Broken down by residency, the Other Europe visitors spent more nights in the country than any other residency group, accounting for 692,700 (38.5%) of the nights. The next most important visitor group, in terms of nights spent, was Great Britain, making up 611,700 (34.0%) of the total nights. Visitors from the United States of America & Canada were third most important, accounting for a further 276,200 (15.4%) of the nights. Other visitors made up 216,400 (12.0%) of the nights. Compared with February 2024, the total visitor nights in the country fell by 32.7%. The average length of stay decreased, from 6.2 nights in February 2024 to 5.9 nights in February 2025.
Among the 304,300 foreign visitors departing Ireland on overseas routes in February 2025, more had come to visit family or friends than for any other reason. Some 112,900 (37.1%) had visiting family or friends as the main reason for their trip. The next most likely reason was for holiday, with 92,300 (30.3%) of the visitors coming for this purpose. A further 63,400 (20.8%) of the visitors had come for business or work-related reasons. Compared with February 2024, visitors visiting family or friends fell by 28.5%, visiting for holiday fell by 39.9%, and those visiting for business or work fell by 28.6%.
Among the 304,300 foreign visitors who departed Ireland on overseas routes in February 2025, some 133,800 (44.0%) stayed in their own property or the property of family or friends. Another 131,600 (43.2%) of the visitors stayed in a hotel. A further 12,900 (4.2%) of the visitors used rented/self-catering as their main accommodation type, while 6,700 (2.2%) of the foreign visitors used guest house/bed & breakfast as their main accommodation type. By way of comparison, in February 2024 some 170,200 visitors stayed in their own property or the property of family and friends, 204,700 stayed in a hotel, 15,500 stayed in rented/self-catering accommodation and 17,400 used guest house/bed & breakfast types.
Foreign visitors who departed Ireland on overseas routes in February 2025 spent a total of €195.6 million, excluding fares, on their trips (a decrease of 31.1% compared with February 2024).
The total amount spent by foreign visitors (including fares) was €268.9 million. Broken down by expense category, the costliest subheading was day-to-day spending (incidental expenditures incurred during their visit such as eating out, entrance fees, public transport, etc., but excluding accommodation), amounting to €117.8 million (43.8% of the total expenditure). The next costliest subheading was fares at €73.3 million (27.3% of the total). Accommodation cost a further €71.2 million (26.5% of the total). Lastly, prepayments (items paid in advance, such as car hire, pre-booked tickets, etc.) comprised just €6.5 million (2.4% of the total).
Overall, in February 2025 the typical foreign visitor spent €884 (€643 excluding fares) on their trip to Ireland, breaking down as €241 on their fare, €21 on prepayments, €234 on accommodation, and €387 on day-to-day expenses. In February 2024, the comparable mean expenditure on these items was €209, €18, €264, and €373 respectively.
| 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
| Jan | 231.1 | 297 | 214 |
| Feb | 217.7 | 283.7 | 195.6 |
| Mar | 323.4 | 417 | |
| Apr | 370.7 | 418.2 | |
| May | 477.4 | 602.9 | |
| Jun | 601 | 684.4 | |
| Jul | 621.3 | 649.9 | |
| Aug | 733.2 | 820.1 | |
| Sep | 600 | 676.9 | |
| Oct | 515.8 | 534.3 | |
| Nov | 333.8 | 315.9 | |
| Dec | 412.9 | 328.6 |
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (28 March 2025) published Inbound Tourism February 2025.
Commenting on the release, Gregg Patrick, Statistician in the Tourism and Travel Division, said:
“The results show that 304,300 foreign visitors departed Ireland on overseas routes in February 2025, a decrease of 30% compared with February 2024. This decrease represents an acceleration of the downward year-on-year trend in foreign visitor numbers that first emerged in September 2024.
The visitors' expenditure in Ireland (excluding fares) was €196 million, a decrease of 31% compared with February 2024. However, the mean expenditure per visitor decreased by just 1.8% to €643.
In terms of revenue generated, the most important tourism markets were both Continental Europe (36%) and Great Britain (36%). These were followed by North America (18%), and the Rest of the World (10%).
The most frequent reason for their journey (37%) was to visit family or friends.
More of the visitors stayed in their own property or with family or friends (44%) than in any other accommodation type, and the typical visit lasted 5.9 nights.”