Tourist spending up in October despite visitor drop-off
Over Numbers Visitor Was Pared To Last In 5% Ireland October Year Foreign Down To
Spending by foreign tourists increased during October to €534.3m despite a drop-off in the number of people completing a trip to Ireland, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.
According to the data, 548,100 foreign visitors completed a trip to Ireland during October — a fall of 5.1% compared to the same month last year. Cumulatively, these tourists spent €534.3m — which excludes the cost of fares to come here — which is up 3.6% year-on-year.
The average cost of their trips, excluding fares, was €975 compared to €893 in October 2023.
Overall, visitors last month spent a combined 3.9 million nights in the country — down slightly by 2.1%. However, the average length of stay increased from 6.9 nights last year to 7.1 nights.
Just under half of visitors, 47.4%, stayed in a hotel.
The largest contingent of visitors came from Britain — accounting for 32.6% of all tourists. This was followed by the US, at 21.7%, and Germany, at 8.1%.
Statistician in the CSO’s Tourism and Travel Division Gregg Patrick said in terms of revenue, North America was the “most important market” for tourists.
“Visitors from the United States and Canada accounted for 42.5% of all visitor expenditure,” he said.
“This was followed by continental Europe, at 34.4%, Great Britain, at 15.9%, and the rest of the world at 7.2%.