Visitor Drop Causes Concern
The dramatic fall-off of visitors to Ireland in January and February has caused concern but not panic within the tourism sector.
While the drop of 30% in visitor numbers in February, compared to the same month in 2024, has surprised many operators, the fact that January and February are traditionally weak months for tourism has encouraged a “wait and see” response.
The CSO said that 304,300 foreign visitors completed a trip to Ireland last month, down from 433,300 in February of last year. Visitor numbers in January also saw a big drop, falling by 25% to 338,900 from 451,900 in January of last year.
Tourism authorities and the industry will be keeping a wary eye on returns for March to see if the fall-off is a singular occurrence or part of a worrying trend.
The visitors who came here last month spent a total of 1.8 million nights, a drop of 33% compared with the same month in 2024. Their average length of stay was 5.9 nights, down from an average of 6.2 nights in February 2024.
The CSO figures also show that the visitors spent €195.6m on their trips, a decrease of 31% compared with February 2024. The average cost of their trips, excluding fares in February 2025 was €643, down from €655 in February of last year.
The CSO said the largest number of visitors came from Great Britain (49%), and the second largest came from the US (10%).
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