Tourism spend falls but October visitor numbers up 4% year on year 

Almost 597,000 visitors came to Ireland during the month, says CSO

Some 568,900 visitors completed a trip Ireland last month, 4% higher than 2024 but visitor spending is down, figures from the CSO released on Thursday show. Picture: Denis Minihane.

Some 568,900 visitors completed a trip Ireland last month, 4% higher than 2024 but visitor spending is down, figures from the CSO released on Thursday show.

Foreign visitors to Ireland spent €529m in the country during the month, which was down 1% when compared with October 2024. "Visitors from North America accounted for €202m (38%) of this spend, Continental Europe for €181m (34%), Great Britain accounted for €102m (19%), and visitors from the rest of the world for €44m (8%)," said CSO statistician in tourism and travel, Edward Duffy. 

"The most frequent reason for the visitors' trips was for holiday or leisure (41%), while one in three trips (33%) were to visit friends or relatives.”

Overall, in October 2025 the typical foreign visitor spent €1,228 - €929 excluding travel fares - on their trip to Ireland, breaking down as €299 on their fare, €34 on prepayments, €417 on accommodation, and €478 on day-to-day expenses. In October 2024, the comparable mean expenditure on these items was €337 on fares, €45 on prepayments, €441 on accommodation, and €489 on day-to-day expenses.

In the first 10 months of 2025, expenditure excluding fares by foreign visitors was estimated at €4.7bn, 12.7% lower than the estimated spend of €5.4bn from January to October 2024.

The number of overseas visitors in the 10 months to October 2025 was just over 5.4m, a decrease of 6.4% compared with almost 5.8m for the same period in 2024.

The average length of stay for foreign resident overnight visitors was 7.1 nights in October 2025, the same as October 2024 and up from 6.9 nights in October 2023. Visitors stayed a total of 4m nights in the country in October 2025, a rise of 4% from October 2024, and up 2% compared with October 2023.

The largest contingent of visitors came from Britain (34%), followed by visitors from the United States (22%). The most frequent reason for travelling to Ireland was for holiday (41%).