Foreign tourists in Ireland spending €1,351 on average as total expenditure reaches new high

With more than 737,600 foreign tourists in Ireland in August, total estimated expenditure was €996.1m for the month

At 737,600, foreign overnight tourists comprised just over a third of all departing visitors in the month. Photo: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

Foreign tourists visiting Ireland in August spent an average of €1,351 on their trip, with total expenditure for the month trumping that of the previous summer months, new figures from the Central Statistics Office reveal.

Broken down, international visitors travelling across Ireland in August spent €356 on average on travel, €62 on prepayments, €505 on day-to-day expenditure and €428 on accommodation.

New figures also show that mean nightly accommodation costs for foreign tourists increased marginally in August compared to July, rising to €87 per night compared to €86 in the previous month.

With more than 737,600 foreign tourists in Ireland in August, the total estimated expenditure of international visitor trips was €996.1m for the month - it's highest ever - with 9.9 nights spent on average per tourist.

Broken down by expense category, the costliest subheading was day-to-day spending such as eating out, entrance fees, and public transport, amounting to €372.2m, followed by accommodation which accounted for €315m.

Of the 737,600 foreign overnight visitors departing Ireland on overseas routes in August, 35.2% of the visitors were from Great Britain, 19.3% were from the United States, and 7.8% were from France, with the most frequent reason for travelling to Ireland holiday or leisure purposes.

In total, 2,194,300 passengers departed Ireland on overseas routes in August 2023, with the majority of these (55%) Irish residents heading outbound for tourism or other purposes.

A further 11.4% were same-day visitors, comprising Northern Ireland residents heading outbound via an airport or seaport in the Republic of Ireland (5.3%), foreign resident transfer passengers (4.4%) or other foreign resident same-day visitors (1.7%).

At 737,600, foreign overnight tourists comprised just over a third of all departing visitors in the month. 

With total expenditure and overall foreign tourists numbers rising, AirNav Ireland also report almost 1 million flights handled between January and September this year, up significantly by 15% compared to the same period in 2022. 

Latest figures represent the highest number of flights handled in Irish airspace following covid restrictions in 2020/2021, with total flights including commercial terminal movements using Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports, North Atlantic Communications flights such as Europe /US Flights and En Route flights which did not land in Ireland. 

Air Traffic Controllers, who are now part of the new AirNav Ireland company, handled 237,227 flights landing and taking off Ireland's three largest airports, with 184,128 flights in Dublin airport, 22,092 at Shannon and 31,007 at Cork.

"Almost 1 million flights traveling through Irish airspace will contribute to the Irish economy in terms of staff employed in businesses on this island country," said chief executive of AirNav Ireland, Peter Kearney. 

"The challenge for this new company is to take aviation safety to the next level in an efficient and sustainable way to meet future demands."

To support further growth, Mr Kearney also shared plans to train a further 240 candidates for careers in air traffic control over the next ten years, while employment opportunities in engineering are due to be available in 2024.