18 hotel sales totalling nearly €75m were recorded during the first half of 2017, according to a report by commercial property consultants CBRE.
This compares with 29 hotel sales valued at €136m for the first six months of last year.
Despite the year-on-year fall, CBRE says momentum in the market is building after a slow start to 2017.
Lisa Keogh of CBRE Hotels Ireland said: "The relatively low volume of transactions signed in H1 is largely attributable to a slow start and the scarcity of large-scale assets being released for sale compared to last year.
"A number of assets that were offered for sale over recent months, including the Connemara Coast Hotel in Galway; The Knightsbrook Hotel in Trim, Co Meath and the Athlone Springs Hotel in Athlone, Co Westmeath, are now at an advanced stage of negotiation and expected to reach conclusion imminently."
The report states there is currently up to €60m of transactions under active negotiation, and CBRE estimates up to €250m will be transacted in the hotel sector during the year.
However, this figure would still be well below 2016 hotel sales, which reached €800m.
Hotels sold as investments in the period are excluded from the data.
