CSO Frontier Series outputs may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example new administrative data sources. Particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release.
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Expenditure by inbound tourism to Ireland was €7.3 billion in 2019, with overnight visitors accounting for 96% of this total.
Domestic tourism expenditure by Irish residents was €2.7 billion, with overnight visitors spending 79% of this amount.
In 2019, outbound expenditure on tourism by Irish residents amounted to €8.3 billion, with same-day trips accounting for less than 1% of this total.
The number of full-time equivalent employees working in tourism was estimated to be 284,800 in 2019 and these employees worked in almost 46,000 tourism-related enterprises.
Tourism Direct Gross Value Added (TDGVA) was estimated to be approximately €13.5 billion in 2019 which equalled a total Gross Value Added (GVA) share of 4.4% in the Irish economy.
The data for Ireland contained in this release was submitted by the CSO to Eurostat in 2022 as part of a voluntary triennial TSA data collection exercise. The results should be seen as an initial phase of a process which the CSO will refine and enhance over time as more information becomes available.
The triennial TSA EU data can be referenced in the following publication.
Internal tourism consumption in Ireland in 2019 amounted to €10 billion. This was the sum of inbound tourism expenditure and domestic tourism expenditure (but did not include some other broader components of TSA tourism consumption, such as the imputed rent of holiday homes). Inbound tourism expenditure made up 73% of the total internal tourism consumption (€7.3 billion), while domestic tourism expenditure contributed €2.7 billion to the internal tourism spending in 2019.
Across the EU in 2019 the percentage of all internal tourism expenditure which came from inbound tourism was 38%. For some countries in 2019 domestic expenditure made up over 80% of all internal tourism consumption (Romania and Germany), while Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Estonia, and Croatia all had domestic expenditure which was less than 20% of the total internal tourism consumption.
For inbound tourism, 96% of the total expenditure was spent by overnight visitors to Ireland (€7.0 billion), while same-day visitors spent less than €300 million in 2019. In comparison, across the EU 87% of total inbound tourism expenditure was attributed to overnight visitors. A similar analysis of domestic tourism reveals that overnight domestic trips accounted for 79% of all domestic tourism expenditure (€2.1 billion) in Ireland, and that Irish residents on same-day visits spent almost €600 million in 2019. Across the EU, overnight domestic trips in 2019 accounted for 69% of all domestic expenditure.
Across the EU the largest share of the total inbound tourism overnight stay expenditure in 2019 (€437 billion) was recorded in Spain (19%), and along with France (15%), Italy (13%) and Germany (11%). These four countries accounted for more than half of all inbound tourism expenditure. In 2019 Ireland had a 2% share of the EU total of inbound tourism overnight stay expenditure.
To measure internal tourism consumption relative to the size of each country, Eurostat generated per capita estimates. On average the value of internal tourism was €2,800 per inhabitant across the EU. Luxembourg (€5,800) and Netherlands (€5,300) had the highest per capita internal tourism consumption, while Hungary, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Latvia, and Romania all had a figure of less than €1,000 per capita. For Ireland, the per capita estimate of internal tourism consumption was approximately €2,000 per inhabitant.
Outbound tourism expenditure (Irish residents travelling abroad) amounted to €8.3 billion in 2019. Almost all (99%) was spent by overnight visitors. This compares with an average of 94% across EU countries in 2019, with Hungary the only country where same-day outbound visits accounted for more than 20% of the total outbound tourism expenditure.
The TSA methodology also compiles data from both the supply side and the demand side of tourism within the overall system of National Accounts. This allows a country to determine a measure of Tourism Direct Gross Value Added (TDGVA), which is the component of output from the Irish tourism industries that is driven directly by tourism spend. Essentially it involves estimating all tourist related spending by domestic and foreign visitors within Ireland. TDGVA is calculated by reconciling the supply (the output of tourism industries) with the use (tourist consumption) side of tourism, so that the proportion of the output of the tourism industries that is accounted for by tourism expenditure can be estimated.
The CSO has generated an initial estimate for the TDGVA which calculates that tourism contributed €13.5 billion to the Irish economy in 2019, and this gives a ratio of TDGVA to total Gross Value Added (GVA) in the economy of 4.4%. Across the EU the average ratio was estimated at 4.5% in the same year. Croatia (11.3%) recorded the largest TDGVA ratio in 2019, followed by Portugal (8.1%) and Spain (6.9%). The lowest TDGVA ratio was found in Luxembourg (1.2%) and Belgium (1.8%).
The main tourism industry contributors to TDGVA in 2019 in Ireland were accommodation services for visitors and food and beverage serving activities (€5.1 billion).
As part of the TSA methodology certain specified industries are considered to be involved in tourism characteristic activities (for example accommodation services and passenger transport). Employment in these sectors can then be defined as tourism characteristic industry employment. But within these sectors not all employment may be directly connected to tourism (such as serving local customers at a restaurant). Therefore, the TSA records both tourist industry employment and the more specific concept of tourism specific employment.
In 2019, the CSO estimated that there were 284,800 full-time equivalent jobs directly involved in tourism in Ireland, which represents a tourism share of more than 13% of total full-time equivalent jobs in the overall Irish economy. This compares with an approximate 4% share of all employment involved in Agriculture, a 6% share of employment in Construction, and 12% of employment in the Industry sector. When all full-time equivalent jobs in the tourism characteristic industries are included (adding those not directly involved in tourism), the employment figure rose to 351,700.
In terms of tourism businesses an estimated 45,700 enterprises were involved in providing goods and services directly to tourism in 2019.
| Tourism Specific Employment Sectors | |
|---|---|
| Accommodation, food and beverage | 74 |
| Passenger Transport | 9.1 |
| Transport rental and leasing | 3.5 |
| Cultural and recreational | 13.4 |
The TSA also measures non-monetary data relating to tourism. This information covers same-day trips, overnight trips and overnight stays which are broken down by inbound, domestic, and outbound visits. In 2019 inbound tourism to Ireland consisted of 1.5 million same-day visits, and 10.6 million overnight trips, which led to 73.6 million nights spent in Ireland by foreign visitors. Domestic tourism in 2019 saw 11.1 million same-day visits and a similar number of overnight trips (11.6 million). These overnight trips resulted in 29.5 million nights away on trips for Irish residents in 2019. Irish residents who travelled abroad went on 710,000 same-day trips and 9.4 million overnight trips. In total these overnight trips resulted in 66.9 million nights spent away from home outside of Ireland.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (21 July 2023) released Irish Tourism Sector 2019 (Tourism Satellite Account).
A Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) compiles data from many different sources and allows for comparisons between the tourist industries in different countries. This is the first time the CSO has published TSA analysis for Ireland.
Commenting on the release, Brendan Curtin, Statistician in the Tourism and Travel Division, said: “The figures in this new release published as part of the CSO Frontier Series, provide an overview of tourist activity and the importance of tourism to the Irish economy in 2019. This release uses an internationally recognised framework known as a Tourism Satellite Account (TSA). Using this methodology means data on tourism in Ireland can be compared with other EU countries.
For the EU-27 inbound tourism expenditure was worth €437 billion in 2019. Five countries (Spain, France, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands) accounted for two-thirds (65%) of this expenditure, while Ireland had a 2% share.
For Ireland overnight trips accounted for almost all expenditure on inbound and outbound tourism trips in 2019 (96% and 99% respectively). Across the EU same day trips accounted for 13% of expenditure on inbound tourism trips and 6% of outbound tourism trips.
The per capita estimate of internal tourism consumption in Ireland was approximately €2,000 per inhabitant in 2019. This compares with an average value of €2,800 per inhabitant across the EU for internal tourism."