The Central Statistics Office (CSO) household travel survey for q4 and full year 2025 highlights a sharp contrast between booming outbound travel and a significant decline in domestic trips.
Irish residents took a record number of overseas trips last year according to the Central Statistics Office Household Survey.
The survey reports that people from Ireland made 15.1m overnight trips abroad in 2025 marking an 11pc increase on the previous year.
In contrast domestic overnight trips fell by 8pc as many opted for foreign holidays with popular destinations in Europe and beyond seeing renewed demand.
For full year 2025 Irish residents took 15.1m overnight trips outside of Ireland, an 11pc increase compared to 2024. Of these 60pc were for holidays, 24pc for visiting friends/relatives, and 9pc for business. These trips generated a total of 82.9m nights away. The average duration was 5.5 nights, slightly down from 5.9 nights in 2024.
Domestic Travel: Irish residents took 15.3m domestic overnight trips, marking an 8pc decrease from 2024.
Domestic travel resulted in 33.4m nights with an average duration remained steady at 2.2 nights.
In the quarter October-December 2025 outbound overnight trips rose to 3.4m, a 6pc increase from Q4 2024. Domestic overnight trips fell significantly to 3.5m, a 12pc drop year-on-year.
Hotels were the most popular domestic choice, used in 47pc of trips. The Southern region (including Cork, Kerry, and Waterford) remained the top domestic destination, accounting for 38pc of trips in Q4.
Despite the drop in trip volume, total domestic expenditure in Q4 2025 remained nearly flat at €814.1m (compared to €815.3m in Q4 2024).
The average length of an outbound stay in Q4 2025 was 4.8 nights, down from 5.3 nights in the same period of 2024.
Fáilte Ireland surveys identify value for money as a primary concern for those who plan short breaks.
