Tourist spending drops by €43m as visits fall
Ireland is known as the land of a thousand welcomes, but a dispute has broken out over exactly how many people are actually availing of it.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) said the numbers visiting were down by more than 21,000 in April compared to a year earlier – of decline of almost 4% – and the amount they spent had dropped by almost €43million, or just over 10%.to
Paul Keeley, Fáilte Ireland's director of regional development, said: 'We are talking to CSO. And we're talking to industry, we're talking to a number of independent research companies, trying to crash various data sources together to get the best possible picture as to how the season is trending.' Ireland is known as the land of a thousand welcomes, but a dispute has broken out over exactly how many people are actually availing of it. Pic: Getty Images
However, Martin Harte, chief executive of the Temple Bar Company, told a recent meeting of Dublin City councillors the overseas visitor numbers at the city's TradFest in January were up 8%.
'I think there's probably a little bit of confusion over visitor numbers and their impact,' he said.
'Business appears to be the same if not slightly ahead of this time last year.' Martin Harte, chief executive of the Temple Bar Company. Pic: Collins
The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation and the Irish Hotels Federation were also due to meet the CSO, it was reported.
However, the CSO said it 'is confident the trends reported in the Inbound Tourism series reflect real trends in overseas visitor numbers'.
A CSO spokesman added: 'Monthly results for overseas overnight visitor numbers have been showing a consistent year-on-year trend in recent months.
'In September 2024, the survey reported a decrease of 1% on the previous September, and the amount by which the year-on-year comparison has fallen has increased in each successive month since then. O'Connell Street in Dublin. Pic: Getty Images
'The visitor numbers reported for January 2025 showed a fall of 25% compared with January 2024. January and February would be considered as part of the low season for tourism.'
The CSO said one of the reasons for the fall in inbound tourism was that the figures were coming from a high base.
'January and February 2024 had a higher-than-usual rate of tourist numbers, which means the falls noted in 2025 are against this relatively high base,' it added.
'In February, the estimated number of visitors from North America (USA and Canada) and from mainland Europe (Europe excluding the UK) were down by more than 30%. The number of visitors from Great Britain fell by just under a quarter (24%).
'What we can see from the data is this downward trend started in September 2024
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