Key Findings

• Irish residents took 14.3 million domestic overnight trips in 2023 which amounted to €3.1 billion in expenditure. This compares with 13.3 million domestic overnight trips in 2022 and total expenditure of €2.9 billion.

• Holiday was the most common reason for domestic overnight trips, comprising of 45% of total journeys, closely followed by visits to friends or relatives (40%) in 2023.

• There were 12.6 million outbound overnight trips taken by Irish residents in 2023 where total expenditure amounted to €12.9 billion. These trips accounted for almost 80 million bed nights.

• Irish residents took 2.9 million outbound overnight trips in Q4 2023, with over one-third of these trips (38%) to a UK (including Northern Ireland) destination.

• In Q4 2023, the most popular destination for domestic overnight trips was the Southern region (Clare, Tipperary, Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford, Cork and Kerry).

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (03 May 2024) released Household Travel Survey Quarter 4 (Q4) and Year 2023.

Commenting on the release, Aaron Costello, Statistician in the Tourism and Travel Division, said: "The figures offer insights on domestic and international travel by Irish residents in the months of October, November, and December (Q4) 2023 and the full year results.

Q4 Results

The number of domestic overnight trips taken in Q4 2023 was 11% higher than in the same period in 2022, while the total number of outbound overnight trips rose by 27% when compared with the same quarter in 2022. Expenditure also increased in Q4 2023, up 28% for domestic overnight trips and 52% for outbound overnight trips when compared with Q4 2022.

In Q4 2023 the Southern region (Clare, Tipperary, Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford, Cork, and Kerry) accounted for most domestic overnight trips at 42%. The next most popular regions were Eastern and Midlands (Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, Meath, Louth, Longford, Westmeath, Offaly, and Laois) at 36%, and Northern and Western region (Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan, Galway, Mayo, and Roscommon) at 22%. This follows a similar pattern to Q4 2022, where the Southern region made up most domestic overnight trips (42%).

Full Year 2023 Results

Irish residents took 14.3 million domestic overnight trips and 12.6 million outbound overnight trips in 2023. Total domestic nights decreased slightly at 34.0 million in 2023, compared with 34.2 million in 2022.

In 2023 Irish residents took 15.4 million domestic same-day visits and 2.0 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."

Editor's Note

From Q3 2022 outbound travel by Irish residents has been calibrated to the new CSO Inbound Tourism statistical series. Methodological advancements in that survey mean that current results are not directly comparable to the former CSO Overseas Travel series, on which outbound travel was calibrated up to Q2 2022. Therefore, there has been a technical break in the outbound travel time series and caution should be taken when comparing data from Q3 2022 and earlier periods. This change has had no impact on domestic travel results. For more information see the Background Notes.