Irish people make more domestic trips in second quarter

During July alone, there were about 676,300 foreign visitors who completed a trip to Ireland, an increase of 5% when compared with July 2025, and up 3% compared with July 2024. File picture

Irish residents spent a combined 9.2 million nights on domestic trips during the second quarter of this year, up 5% year-on-year, with almost half of them travelling in the country for a holiday, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.

According to the CSO, a total of 4.34 million overnight domestic trips were completed by Irish residents between April and June, up 3%. Of that, 48% said the primary purpose was a holiday while 36% said it was to visit friends and relatives and another 6% said it was for business purposes.

More than two-fifths of the trips completed in this period were taken in southern counties including Cork, Tipperary, Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford, and Kerry. 

While northern and western counties — Sligo, Donegal, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan, Galway, Mayo, Roscommon — and the eastern and midland counties — Wicklow, Kildare, Meath, Louth, Longford, Westmeath, Offaly, Laois — both made up 29%.

Irish residents took 4.1 million overnight trips outside of Ireland between April and June, reflecting a 3% decrease compared with the same period last year and they spent a total of 22.6 million nights on those overnight trips outside of Ireland with the average length of stay decreasing from 5.6 nights last year to 5.5 nights. 

The purpose of these overnight trips was led by holidays, accounting for 72% of the total. Visits to friends or relatives represented 19% of the nights, while business-related travel made up 4%.

This data comes as inbound tourism into Ireland has seen a significant recovery compared to last year.

In the seven months to the end of July, there have been an estimated 3.9 million foreign visitors to Ireland — an increase of 13% compared to the same period last year, and slightly ahead of that period in 2024, up 0.4%.

During July alone, there were about 676,300 foreign visitors who completed a trip to Ireland, an increase of 5% when compared with July 2025, and up 3% compared with July 2024.

Between January and July, tourists to Ireland are estimated to have spent just over €4.5bn combined, which includes their fares. This is up nearly 14% compared to last year, but it is still nearly 2% lower than in 2024.