Cork and Kerry among most popular destinations for Irish holidaymakers, new figures show

New Fáilte Ireland figures show more than one million extra domestic holidays were taken by Irish people in 2023 — an annual increase of 8%

Glandore, Co Cork: Revenue generated from domestic holidays to Cork was up 20% to €402.1m. Picture: Denis Minihane.

The domestic tourism market grew strongly in 2023, with more than 14.3m trips taken by Irish holidaymakers, generating  €3.1bn for the economy.

New figures from Fáilte Ireland show more than 1m  extra domestic holidays were taken by Irish people in 2023 — an annual increase of 8%.

Related expenditure was also up by 6.5% on the previous year, with an additional €200m spent on domestic holidays.

However, the figures also reveal that while most traditional tourism destinations for Irish holidaymakers in the South and West of Ireland recorded strong growth, the increase in visitor numbers was more moderate in other areas.

Some counties — particularly in parts of the North-West and North-East — even experienced a downturn in visitor numbers compared to 2022, despite the overall resurgence in the holiday market after the easing of covid-19 restrictions.

Research carried out by Fáilte Ireland also highlighted how Irish people took shorter trips when holidaying in the Republic last year.

Overall, they spent an average of 2.4 nights per trip, with a total of 34m overnight stays recorded in 2023.

The average length of domestic holidays is down from three nights the previous year when Irish holidaymakers had a total of 34.2m overnight stays. The longer time spent on holidays within Ireland in 2022 is believed to be linked to some travel restrictions due to the covid-19 pandemic remaining in place which made some people more reluctant to holiday abroad.

However, the latest figures show there was a strong resurgence in the number of trips to Dublin last year, as they were up 30% to more than 2.4m.

It was the highest rate of increase in holiday trips among any of the 26 counties in 2023.

Associated expenditure by visitors to the capital was up 17%, to €490m.

Average length of stays by native tourists to Dublin was relatively short, at 1.9 days.

Cork was the second most popular destination for Irish holidaymakers, with the number of trips up almost 10% last year, to more than 1.7m.

Kerry was ranked the third favourite destination with more than 1.3m trips — up 10% on 2022 levels.

Revenue generated from domestic holidays to Cork was up 20% to €402.1m, with visitors staying an average of 2.6 nights per trip.

Kerry was ranked the third favourite destination with more than 1.3m trips — also up 10% on 2022 levels.

At the same time, spending in the Kingdom by domestic visitors rose by a dramatic 43% to just under €433m — about €130m more than in 2022, making Kerry the most valuable tourist market outside Dublin.

Tourists to Kerry last year spent an average of 3.7 overnight stays per trip — the highest figure for any county in Ireland in 2023.

Donegal and Clare were the only other areas where tourists spent an average of three or more nights on holidays last year.

The number of domestic trips taken to Donegal was up 22% to almost 700,000, while the number of holidays spent in Clare rose by 14% to 674,000.

A perennial favourite with Irish holidaymakers, the number of domestic trips to Galway in 2023 was up 20% to almost 1.2m, although the increase in related expenditure was more modest — up 6% to €236m.

Trips to Waterford were also up strongly to just under 500,000 with an 18% in the number of domestic holidaymakers, although overall spending by visitors was down 7.5% to €98m due to shorter average stays.