UK visitors account for majority of tourists here in January

Travel over and back was the second highest expense for visitors to Ireland. File picture

Most of the tourists and visitors who came to Ireland last month are from the UK, and they each spent just under €1,000 on their trips here.

According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), 42.3% of the 451,900 foreign visitors who departed Ireland on overseas routes in January this year were from Britain, 11.1% were from the US and 5.8% were from Germany.

The visitors' most frequent reason (46.8%) for visiting Ireland was for visiting family and friends and they stayed a total of 3,813,800 nights in the country.

The next most likely reason was for holiday or leisure, with 159,500 (35.3%) of the visitors coming for this purpose. A further 58,700 (13.0%) of the visitors had come for business or work-related reasons.

The total estimated expenditure of foreign visitors on their trips to Ireland was €414.1m, and they stayed on average 8.4 nights and spent on average €916 on their trips.

Broken down by expense category, the costliest subheading was day-to-day spending amounting to €199.5m (48.2% of the total expenditure).

This included money for incidental expenditures incurred during their visit such as eating out, entrance fees, and public transport, but excluding accommodation.

The next costliest subheading was the travel fare over and back at €117.1m, which was 28.3% of the total. Accommodation cost a further €86.9m, or 21% of the total.

Over 451,900 foreign visitors departed Ireland in January 2024https://t.co/ltF5ogV0pU#CSOIreland #Ireland #Tourism #Travel #Holidays #LoveIreland #OverseasTravel #AirAndSeaTravel #Aviation #InboundTourism pic.twitter.com/bhmuuRKmkK

— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) February 28, 2024

Lastly, pre-payments and items paid in advance, such as car hire and pre-booked tickets comprised just €10.6m, some 2.6% of the total.

Overall, the typical foreign visitor's overall spend of €916 breaks down as €259 on their fare, €24 on pre-payments, €192 on accommodation, and €441 on day-to-day expenses.

CSO Tourism and Travel Division statistician Greg Patrick said a total of 1,281,700 passengers departed Ireland on overseas routes in January 2024. The majority of these (56.3%) were Irish residents heading outbound for tourism or other purposes.

A further 8.5% were same-day visitors, comprising Northern Ireland residents heading outbound via an airport or seaport in the Republic of Ireland (3.8%), foreign resident transfer passengers (3.3%) or other foreign resident same-day visitors (1.4%).