Tourism numbers rise in July but average visit length shortens

CSO data shows overseas residents made 655,400 trips to the State last month

Slea Head on the Dingle Peninsula in Co Kerry, a popular tourist destination. Visitors to the State rose 0.8 per cent in July. File photograph
Slea Head on the Dingle Peninsula in Co Kerry, a popular tourist destination. Visitors to the State rose 0.8 per cent in July. File photograph

Visitors to the State rose 0.8 per cent in July compared to the same month in 2023, with completed trips reaching a total of 655,400, according to new inbound tourism figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The largest contingent of visitors, some 32.2 per cent, came from Britain, followed by the US, which accounted for 22.7 per cent of visits. The next biggest was Germany, with visitors from the country representing 7.5 per cent of trips in the month.

The visitors stayed a total of 5.3 million nights in the country, a decrease of 6.2 per cent when compared with July 2023, with the typical visit lasting 8.1 nights, down by 0.6 nights from a year earlier.

They spent a total of €919.2 million on their trips, up 5 per cent compared to the same month a year earlier.

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The most frequent reason for travelling to Ireland, cited by 45.7 per cent, was for holiday or leisure.

“More of the visitors stayed in hotels (41 per cent) than in any other accommodation type, and the typical cost of their visit was €1,403, which comprised €411 on fares, €48 on prepayments, €430 on accommodation, and €514 on day-to-day expenditure,” said Gregg Patrick, statistician in the CSO’s tourism and travel division.

This average cost of trips in July 2024 has increased from €1,346 in July 2024.

The figures for visitors refer to overseas residents who have stayed at least one night in the State. These overseas residents include both Irish and non-Irish nationals but exclude residents of Northern Ireland, while visitors who depart Ireland via the airports and seaports of Northern Ireland are not captured in the survey.

Laura Slattery

Laura Slattery

Laura Slattery is an Irish Times journalist writing about media, advertising and other business topics