Irish residents continue to travel more – CEO

Irish residents took 14.3 million domestic overnight trips last year 2023, spending €3.1 billion.

New data from the Central Statistics Office showed the figures continued to rise of the previous year, when there were 13.3 million overnight trips, with total expenditure of €2.9 billion. But overall nights were slightly lower, at 34 million last year compared with 34.2 million in 2022.

Some 45 per cent of travellers were on holiday, while visits to friends or relatives were in second place at 40 per cent.

The south of the country was the most popular destination for domestic overnight trips, including Clare, Tipperary, Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford, Cork and Kerry.

The next most popular regions were Eastern and Midlands – Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, Meath, Louth, Longford, Westmeath, Offaly, and Laois – at 36 per cent.

There were 12.6 million outbound overnight trips taken during the same period, with almost 3 million n the final three months of 2023. More than a third – 38 per cent – were to a destination in the UK, including Northern Ireland.

“The number of domestic overnight trips taken in Q4 2023 was 11 per cent higher than in the same period in 2022, while the total number of outbound overnight trips rose by 27 per cent when compared with the same quarter in 2022. Expenditure also increased in Q4 2023, up 28 per cent for domestic overnight trips and 52 per cent for outbound overnight trips when compared with Q4 2022,” said Aaron Costello, Statistician in the Tourism and Travel Division.

“In 2023 Irish residents took 15.4 million domestic same-day visits and 2 million outbound same-day visits. Expenditure amounted to €717 million on domestic same-day visits in 2023 which was down from the 2022 figure of €856 million.”