The Central Statistics Office recorded CSO recorded 646,400 inbound visitors in July 2025 down 1.4pc on 2024 and down 44pc on pre-pandemic when a different measurement metric was used.
- The average length of stay for foreign resident overnight visitors was 7.9 nights, down from an average of 8.1 nights in July 2024 and 8.7 nights in July 2023.
- Visitors stayed a total of 5.1 million nights in the country, a fall of 4% when compared with July 2024, and decrease of 10% when compared with July 2023.
- The visitors spent €624 million on their trips (excluding fares), a drop of 4% when compared with July 2024, and up 0.4% compared with July 2023.
- The largest contingent of visitors came from Great Britain (33%), followed by visitors from the United States (25%).
- The most frequent reason for travelling to Ireland was for holiday (45%).
Of the inbound markets:
- Britain was down 0.5pc on 2024 and down 49.9pc on pre pandemic
- North America was up 14.1pc on 2024 and down 32.5pc on pre pandemic of which USA was up 10.4pc on 2024 although down 34.7pc on pre-pandemic.
- Germany is down 15pc on 2024 and down 54pc on pre pandemic
- France is down 10.7pc on 2024 and down 33pc on pre pandemic
- Spain is down 10.3pc on 2024 and down 49.6pc on pre pandemic
- Europe overall was down 15.7pc on 2024 and down 52pc on pre pandemic
- Ireland outbound trips are up 8.8pc on 2024 and up 53.1pc on pre pandemic
Inbound visitor numbers were down 12.9pc in the first six months of 2025 and down 44pc on pre-pandemic, when a different methodology was employed by the CSO.
In contrast, Ireland outbound trips for January to June are estimated by the CSO are up 12.9pc on 2024 and 66.4pc on pre pandemic.
Dublin airport figures for July were up 6.9pc on 2024 and 9.4pc ahead of pre-pandemic. Cork airport was up 15.5pc on 2024 and 27.4pc ahead of pre-pandemic.
Questions have been raised by the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation, the Irish Hotels Federation and others about the CSO statistics which they say do not tally with the experience of the hotel, visitor attractions and tourism industries and separate data recording the number of people coming through the ports and airports.
The ratio of inbound to outbound trips of the total number of recorded trips on and off the island has changed dramatically since the pandemic, falling to 29pc inbound in May compared with 60pc inbound recorded in May 2017 and 57pc inbound in May 2019.
“The CSO is confident the trends reported in the Inbound Tourism series reflect real trends in overseas visitor numbers. The data is collected according to a consistent and robust methodology which has been independently reviewed. These methods have been applied consistently since the survey was introduced. There can be differences in monthly results across years, for example, a leap year means an extra day of data in a particular year, or the timing of Easter or other events may see tourism activity move between months across different years. That said, the consistency of the trend observed across a number of months is noteworthy, particularly in the context of a consistent methodology.
The CSO welcomes industry feedback and routinely meets with industry stakeholders. The CSO is keen to provide support to all users, including through the Tourism Statistics Liaison Group, to enhance understanding and interpretation of its data and results. In addition, the CSO welcomes the opportunity for further engagement with the industry including with respect to other data sources the industry may provide which might help interpret the trends being observed in the Inbound Tourism release.”
