Figures from the Central Statistics Office show a 10pc drop in foreign visitors to Ireland in May compared to last year, with 560,000 tourists arriving in the 26 counties last month.
The figures reveal that North America provide 29.3pc of Ireland’s inbound tourist numbers (USA 24.8pc), Britain 38.2pc and Europe 31.5pc, with Germany almost overtaken by France as happened in March, both 7.1pc.
Questions have been raised about the credibility of the figures that showed large drops in inbound visitor numbers of 25pc in January, 29.8pc in February, 15.4pc in March, 3.8pc in April and now 9.9pc in May. Just one market showed an increase, North America was up by 11pc, with matching increases in visitors form USA and Canada.
The May total was down 45.1pc on pre-pandemic when a different methodology was used by the CSO. The massive decline contrasts with figures from Dublin airport which showed similar passenger numbers to May 2024 but a larger proportion has been allocated to outbound trips by Irish residents, up 11.4pc on 2024 and a scarcely credible 82.7pc on pre-pandemic.
The new methodology has flipped the relationship between outbound and inbound dramatically. The outbound/inbound proportion of people arriving into the jurisdiction was 71/29 in May 2025, compared with 42/58 in May 2019.
According to yesterday’s inbound figures:
- Total is down 9.9pc on 2024 and 45.1pc on pre-pandemic
- Britain is down marginally 1.4pc on 2024 and 41.7pc
- N America is up 11.1pc on 2024 and down 36.8pc on pre-pandemic
- Europe is down 19.8pc on 2024 and 52pc on pre-pandemic
- France is down 3.9pc on 2024 and 31.8pc on pre-pandemic
- Germany is down 14.5pc on 2024 and 52.2pc on pre-pandemic
- Spain is down 2.1pc on 2024 and 35.6pc on pre-pandemic
- Italy is down 43.9pc on 2024 and 66.5pc on pre-pandemic
- Australia/NZ is down 15.4pc on 2024 and 47.6pc on pre-pandemic
North American visitors accounted for €207m (43pc) of the total visitor expenditure of €477m.
The most common reason for visits was holiday or leisure at 43pc, with 31pc visiting friends or relatives.
Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, the CEO of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation, said the CSO data did not align with the sector’s own experience.
The Restaurants Association of Ireland and the Irish Hotels Federation expressed concerns regarding the decline in overseas tourist numbers and its impact on businesses.
Michael Magner Presdient of the IHF shared: “while there is still a disparity between the published figures and industry data on trips by overseas visitors, the May figures are now more in line with what businesses have been reporting on the ground, taking account of the contribution by domestic tourism.”
“The decline in tourism spend is part of an ongoing trend so far this year. Our primary fear is that, if this continues into the summer, it could have a very significant negative impact on our industry. This would pose an enormous challenge for tourism businesses nationwide which are already struggling under unsustainable increases in operating costs across all aspects of their businesses.”
A written statement from the Restaurants Association of Ireland shared that it is “deeply concerned with the continuing decline in overseas tourists numbers to Ireland. As we enter peak season, businesses are finding trading conditions challenging and margins eroded. The RAI is calling for a vat reduction to 9pc for food service and a review of employers PRSI for labour intensive sectors like hospitality and retail,” the association said in a statement.
