Tourism recovery continues with visitor numbers up 16%

Aircraft on the tarmac at Cork Airport. Cork Airport is welcoming 61,500 passengers over the May Bank Holiday weekend.

Ireland's tourism industry recovery is continuing with more than 510,100 foreign visitors coming to the country last month, an increase of 16% compared with March 2025, according to figures released on Thursday by the Central Statistics Office.

The March figures are seen as a key indicator of the health of Irish tourism as it includes the St Patrick's Day bank holiday festivities, and came despite the start of the US and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28. 

"The number of nights spent in Ireland by foreign visitors in March was just over 3.2m nights, up 14% when compared with March 2025 and up 4% compared with March 2024," said CSO statistician Edward Duffy.

Expenditure by foreign visitors in March 2026 was estimated at €372m, up 14% compared with March 2025 (€326m), but down 11% compared with March 2024 (€417m).

The average length of stay for foreign resident overnight visitors was 6.4 nights, down from 6.5 nights in March 2025. In March 2026, the greatest number of visitors came from Britain (40%), followed by Continental Europe (35%), North America (21%), and the Rest of the World (3%). The number of visitors from Britain was up 17% on 2025, while the numbers from Europe were up 14% on 2025 and the numbers from North America were up 17%.

During March, most overnight foreign visitors (43%) indicated that the main purpose of their trip was for holidays, leisure, and recreation, while 34% said it was for visiting friends and relatives, with 15% of trips for business reasons.

Fuel crisis casts cloud

The positive figures for March 2026 come amid growing pressure on air travel driven by the fuel crisis caused by the conflict in the Middle East and the enforced closure of the oil shipping lane through the the Strait of Hormuz.  Willie Walsh, the former chief executive of Aer Lingus and British Airways parent company IAG, is now head of the International Air Transport Association, and said this week there remains a risk of rationing of fuel supply for airlines, though adding that supply remained robust for now.

Nevertheless, Irish airports are continuing to see strong passenger traffic. Cork Airport is welcoming 61,500 passengers over the May Bank Holiday weekend, with Friday May 1 the busiest day of the weekend for both arrivals and departures. On Saturday May 2, Cork Airport’s newest route takes off as Aer Lingus start a new, twice-weekly service to Nice in France. Meanwhile other seasonal services resuming this month include Alghero/Sardinia (Ryanair), Bordeaux (Aer Lingus), Palma de Mallorca (Aer Lingus), Rhodes (Ryanair), and Zadar (Ryanair).

"It’s great to see our airport so busy and the capital programme now underway will provide the airport infrastructure for the next ten years of growth,” said Cork Airport managing director Niall MacCarthy.

Shannon Airport is will see more than 56,000 passengers travel through the airport over the bank holiday period, an increase of 9% on the same period in 2025. Demand has been boosted by the launch of new city break routes this year including Rome, Madrid, and Frankfurt.  Shannon Airport confirmed the appointment of Corkman Ray O’Driscoll as chief executive this week.

Meanwhile, almost 465,000 passengers are set to pass through Dublin, Ireland's busiest airport over the May bank holiday weekend. Between Friday and Monday, more than 110,000 passengers are expected to travel through the airport every day.