This chapter presents information on the tourism sector of the Irish economy. The tourism and travel information covers earnings and expenditure from tourism and travel as well as detailing the number of trips to Ireland classified by area of residence and reason for journey. Details of foreign and domestic travel by Irish residents classified by region visited and reason for journey are also included.
| 18.1 Overseas trips to Ireland by non-residents - number of trips, average length of stay and expenditure by area of residence, 2011 - 2014 | ||||
| '000 | ||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
| Total overseas trips to Ireland | 6,505 | 6,517 | 6,986 | 7,604 |
| Great Britain | 2,878 | 2,774 | 2,929 | 3,164 |
| France | 401 | 396 | 434 | 456 |
| Germany | 423 | 448 | 483 | 557 |
| Italy | 220 | 252 | 234 | 258 |
| Other Europe | 1,239 | 1,251 | 1,312 | 1,368 |
| USA & Canada | 987 | 1,017 | 1,158 | 1,329 |
| Australia & New Zealand | 141 | 155 | 187 | 190 |
| All other areas | 216 | 223 | 248 | 284 |
| Nights | ||||
| Average length of stay in Ireland | 7.7 | 7.4 | 7.3 | 7.2 |
| Great Britain | 4.8 | 4.6 | 4.7 | 4.5 |
| France | 10.3 | 9.2 | 8.9 | 8.8 |
| Germany | 9.3 | 9.0 | 9.6 | 9.5 |
| Italy | 9.5 | 9.5 | 9.0 | 9.5 |
| Other Europe | 10.2 | 9.1 | 8.8 | 9.0 |
| USA & Canada | 8.8 | 8.5 | 8.2 | 7.4 |
| Australia & New Zealand | 11.7 | 11.6 | 11.8 | 12.5 |
| All other areas | 15.4 | 13.9 | 14.1 | 14.8 |
| €million | ||||
| Total expenditure in Ireland (excluding fares) | 2,899 | 2,916 | 3,262 | 3,548 |
| Great Britain | 830 | 819 | 847 | 885 |
| France | 197 | 189 | 200 | 202 |
| Germany | 241 | 227 | 286 | 334 |
| Italy | 102 | 108 | 119 | 132 |
| Other Europe | 580 | 544 | 629 | 639 |
| USA & Canada | 679 | 742 | 822 | 935 |
| Australia & New Zealand | 117 | 133 | 168 | 177 |
| All other areas | 154 | 155 | 191 | 244 |
| Source: CSO | ||||
Interactive table: StatBank link
In 2014, 7.6 million overseas trips were made by non-residents to Ireland compared to 7.0 million trips in 2013, an increase of 8.9%. Residents of Great Britain took almost 3.2 million trips to Ireland during 2014, an increase of 235,000 trips (8.0%) compared to 2013. The average length of stay in Ireland by all overseas travellers fell marginally from 7.3 nights in 2013 to 7.2 nights in 2014. The most important overseas markets in terms of non-fare expenditure within Ireland in 2014 were USA and Canada (26.4%) and Great Britain (24.9%).
| Overseas Trips, 2014 | |
| Great Britain | 41.6 |
| France, Germany, Italy | 16.7 |
| Other Europe | 18 |
| USA and Canada | 17.5 |
| Other Areas | 6.2 |
| 18.2 Overseas trips to Ireland by non-residents - number of trips, average length of stay and expenditure by reason for journey, 2011 - 2014 | ||||
| '000 | ||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
| Total overseas trips to Ireland | 6,505 | 6,517 | 6,986 | 7,604 |
| Business | 1,098 | 1,182 | 1,242 | 1,282 |
| Visit to friends/relatives | 1,973 | 1,818 | 2,015 | 2,209 |
| Holiday/leisure/recreation | 2,728 | 2,832 | 3,059 | 3,324 |
| Other | 705 | 685 | 670 | 789 |
| Nights | ||||
| Average length of stay in Ireland | 7.7 | 7.4 | 7.3 | 7.2 |
| Business | 5.1 | 5.0 | 5.4 | 5.6 |
| Visit to friends/relatives | 7.5 | 7.3 | 7.3 | 7.4 |
| Holiday/leisure/recreation | 6.9 | 6.6 | 6.6 | 6.6 |
| Other | 15.6 | 14.8 | 14.0 | 12.1 |
| €million | ||||
| Total expenditure in Ireland (excluding fares) | 2,899 | 2,916 | 3,262 | 3,548 |
| Business | 478 | 529 | 580 | 587 |
| Visit to friends/relatives | 641 | 588 | 670 | 784 |
| Holiday/leisure/recreation | 1,457 | 1,513 | 1,687 | 1,823 |
| Other | 324 | 287 | 324 | 353 |
| Source: CSO | ||||
Interactive table: StatBank link
The number of overseas trips to Ireland for the purpose of holiday/leisure/recreation increased by 265,000 trips between 2013 and 2014, to over 3.3 million trips, a rise of 8.7%. During the same period, the number of trips to visit friends and relatives rose by 194,000 trips to 2.2 million trips, an increase of 9.6%.
Excluding fares, expenditure by overseas travellers increased by 8.8% in 2014, from €3,262 million in 2013 to €3,548 million. Of this €3,548 million, 51.4% was spent by overseas travellers for holiday/leisure/recreation purposes, 22.1% by those travelling to visit friends and relatives, 16.5% by business travellers and the remaining 9.9% by those travelling for ‘Other’ reasons.
| 18.3 Outbound travel (overnight trips) by Irish residents - number of trips, number of nights, average length of stay and expenditure by region visited, 2010 - 2014 | |||||
| '000 | |||||
| 2010 | 2011 | 20121 | 2013 | 2014 | |
| Total outbound - trips | 6,917 | 6,514 | 6,600 | 6,579 | 6,676 |
| EU2 | 5,797 | 5,563 | 5,673 | 5,596 | 5,725 |
| Other Europe3 | 281 | 222 | 202 | 205 | 157 |
| North America | 452 | 410 | 370 | 405 | 446 |
| Central, South & Other Americas | 62 | 56 | 69 | 40 | 30 |
| Asia & Middle East | 163 | 127 | 165 | 127 | 165 |
| Africa | 110 | 70 | 58 | 86 | 82 |
| Australia, New Zealand & Oceania | 52 | 66 | 64 | 119 | 72 |
| Total outbound - nights | 57,473 | 54,014 | 53,046 | 52,078 | 53,635 |
| EU2 | 42,235 | 40,038 | 39,710 | 37,281 | 40,161 |
| Other Europe3 | 2,369 | 1,966 | 1,444 | 1,879 | 1,523 |
| North America | 5,947 | 5,725 | 5,576 | 5,455 | 6,337 |
| Central, South & Other Americas | 825 | 904 | 985 | 480 | 494 |
| Asia & Middle East | 3,001 | 2,232 | 2,755 | 2,395 | 2,327 |
| Africa | 1,582 | 1,344 | 984 | 910 | 1,111 |
| Australia, New Zealand & Oceania | 1,515 | 1,805 | 1,592 | 3,678 | 1,682 |
| Nights | |||||
| Average length of stay | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.0 | 7.9 | 8.0 |
| EU2 | 7.3 | 7.2 | 7.0 | 6.7 | 7.0 |
| Other Europe3 | 8.4 | 8.8 | 7.2 | 9.2 | 9.7 |
| North America | 13.1 | 14.0 | 15.1 | 13.5 | 14.2 |
| Central, South & Other Americas | 13.2 | 16.1 | 14.3 | 11.9 | 16.6 |
| Asia & Middle East | 18.4 | 17.5 | 16.7 | 18.9 | 14.1 |
| Africa | 14.4 | 19.3 | 17.0 | 10.6 | 13.5 |
| Australia, New Zealand & Oceania | 29.0 | 27.5 | 25.0 | 31.0 | 23.3 |
| €million | |||||
| Total outbound - expenditure | 5,895.7 | 5,408.1 | 5,345.2 | 5,392.5 | 5,598.2 |
| EU2 | 3,901.5 | 3,628.6 | 3,674.2 | 3,504.1 | 3,880.8 |
| Other Europe3 | 237.4 | 202.2 | 148.1 | 186.9 | 171.1 |
| North America | 876.5 | 785.1 | 760.4 | 791.1 | 846.8 |
| Central, South & Other Americas | 150.7 | 127.3 | 135.7 | 79.4 | 72.5 |
| Asia & Middle East | 411.9 | 332.7 | 344.2 | 343.1 | 346.9 |
| Africa | 182.6 | 136.6 | 104.7 | 110.8 | 128.1 |
| Australia, New Zealand & Oceania | 135.1 | 195.6 | 178.0 | 377.0 | 152.2 |
| 1From 2012 onwards expenditure includes expenditure on car imports in the region of €150m for the year | |||||
| 2From 1st July 2013, EU includes Croatia | |||||
| 3Other Europe includes Croatia until the 30th June 2013 | |||||
| Source: CSO | |||||
Interactive table: StatBank link
Almost 6.7 million outbound trips were undertaken by Irish residents in 2014. The average length of stay on outbound trips was 8.0 nights, varying from 7.0 nights within the European Union, 14.2 nights in North America and 23.3 nights in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania. Irish residents spent a total of €5,598.2 million on outbound trips during 2014, over two thirds (69%) of this expenditure was spent within the European Union.
| 18.4 Domestic travel (overnight trips) by Irish residents - number of trips, number of nights, average length of stay and expenditure by reason for journey, 2010 - 2014 | |||||
| '000 | |||||
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
| Total domestic - trips | 7,300 | 7,169 | 7,031 | 7,111 | 7,354 |
| Holiday | 3,978 | 3,696 | 3,374 | 3,460 | 3,583 |
| Business | 370 | 350 | 322 | 341 | 402 |
| Visiting friends/relatives | 1,997 | 2,231 | 2,374 | 2,452 | 2,423 |
| Education & training | 129 | 83 | 118 | 109 | 100 |
| Sporting events | 237 | 238 | 254 | 223 | 305 |
| Work/looking for work | 113 | 121 | 99 | 67 | 64 |
| Other1 | 476 | 449 | 489 | 459 | 478 |
| Total domestic - nights | 22,540 | 21,628 | 20,120 | 20,649 | 21,204 |
| Holiday | 13,981 | 12,972 | 10,777 | 11,933 | 11,572 |
| Business | 672 | 586 | 621 | 558 | 794 |
| Visiting friends/relatives | 5,346 | 5,817 | 6,194 | 6,046 | 6,356 |
| Education & training | 672 | 395 | 689 | 500 | 498 |
| Sporting events | 478 | 524 | 509 | 423 | 575 |
| Work/looking for work | 275 | 307 | 336 | 197 | 218 |
| Other1 | 1,115 | 1,028 | 994 | 993 | 1,191 |
| Nights | |||||
| Average length of stay | 3.1 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 |
| Holiday | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 3.2 |
| Business | 1.8 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 2.0 |
| Visiting friends/relatives | 2.7 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 2.6 |
| Education & training | 5.2 | 4.7 | 5.8 | 4.6 | 5.0 |
| Sporting events | 2.0 | 2.2 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 1.9 |
| Work/looking for work | 2.4 | 2.5 | 3.4 | 2.9 | 3.4 |
| Other1 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 2.5 |
| €million | |||||
| Total domestic - expenditure | 1,560.5 | 1,415.9 | 1,345.4 | 1,373.2 | 1,464.0 |
| Holiday | 971.9 | 864.9 | 784.8 | 840.3 | 852.0 |
| Business | 85.9 | 76.9 | 75.7 | 78.4 | 98.3 |
| Visiting friends/relatives | 270.5 | 265.9 | 269.6 | 266.7 | 302.2 |
| Education & training | 40.5 | 26.5 | 35.5 | 33.1 | 30.0 |
| Sporting events | 54.1 | 51.0 | 49.2 | 43.5 | 53.8 |
| Work/looking for work | 19.5 | 23.4 | 28.7 | 13.5 | 12.8 |
| Other1 | 118.1 | 107.2 | 101.9 | 97.7 | 114.9 |
| 1Other includes Health & Medical, Religious, Shopping and other reasons not elsewhere specified | |||||
| Source: CSO | |||||
| Holiday | Business | Visiting Friends/Relatives | Education and Training | Sporting Events | Other incl. Work/Looking for Work | |
| 2010 | 3978 | 370 | 1997 | 129 | 237 | 589 |
| 2011 | 3696 | 350 | 2231 | 83 | 238 | 571 |
| 2012 | 3374 | 322 | 2374 | 118 | 254 | 589 |
| 2013 | 3460 | 341 | 2452 | 109 | 223 | 526 |
| 2014 | 3583 | 402 | 2423 | 100 | 305 | 542 |
Interactive table: StatBank link
In 2014, Irish residents took almost 7.4 million domestic trips. The average length of stay for domestic trips was 2.9 nights, resulting in a total of 21.2 million bed nights. Holidays accounted for almost half of all domestic trips (49%), while a third (33%) were to visit friends or relatives. Total expenditure by Irish residents on domestic trips for 2014 amounted to €1,464 million with holiday spend rising by 1.4% in 2014 to €852 million.
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