Official figures for the number of tourists who visited Ireland in January have shown a 25% decrease compared to the same period last year.
The CSO said that 338,900 foreign visitors made a trip to Ireland in January, which is down on 451,900 in January 2024.
Reacting to the figures, restaurateur Paul Treyvaed said the downturn in tourism was “all this useless government’s fault with their insane covid and immigration policies.”
“Finally official figures to back up what I’ve been screaming about,” he said adding, “and I can tell you now, February will be the same if not worse”
In June last year, it was reported that 77,315 hotel beds remained under contract to the Government to house refugees and asylum seekers at the end of May, which down from 84,497 six months previously representing a 15% drop.
A total of 2.8 million nights were spent in Ireland by the visitors, a drop of 25.7% compared with the same month in 2024.
The average length of stay for foreign resident overnight visitors was 8.4 nights, no change from January 2024 with the most frequently reported reason for travel being to meet family and friends.
Spending was down by 27.9% compared with January 2024 with €214m spent while on trips.
Excluding fares, the average cost of their trips in January 2025 was €632, down from €657 in January of 2024.
Commenting on the release, Gregg Patrick, Statistician in the Tourism and Travel Division, said:
“The results show that 338,900 foreign visitors departed Ireland on overseas routes in January 2025, a decrease of 25.0% compared with January 2024.
The visitors’ expenditure in Ireland (i.e. excluding fares) was €214 million, a decrease of 27.9% compared with January 2024. However, the mean expenditure per visitor decreased by just 3.9% to €632.
The most important tourism market, in terms of revenue generated, was Continental Europe, accounting for 33.9% of all visitor expenditure. This was followed by Great Britain (30.4%), North America (22.3%), and the Rest of the World (13.5%).
The most frequent reason for their journey (52.3%) was to visit family or friends.
More of the visitors stayed in their own property or with family or friends (58.1%) than in any other accommodation type, and the typical visit lasted 8.4 nights.”
Previously released figures show that “Some 390,700 foreign visitors completed a trip to Ireland in December 2024, a decrease of 12.2% compared with December 2023. The visitors spent €328.6 million on their trips (excluding fares), down 20.4% compared with December 2023.