New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that Irish residents spent a total of €3.1 billion on domestic overnight trips last year.
The CSO said that Irish residents took 14.3 million domestic overnight trips in 2023. This compares with 13.3 million domestic overnight trips in 2022 and a total expenditure of €2.9 billion.
Today's figures show that holidays was the most common reason for domestic overnight trips, making up 45% of total journeys. This was closely followed by visits to friends or relatives (40%).
The most popular destination for domestic overnight trips was the Southern region, which includes Clare, Tipperary, Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford, Cork and Kerry, during the fourth quarter of last year, the CSO noted.
The next most popular regions were Eastern and Midlands - Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, Meath, Louth, Longford, Westmeath, Offaly, and Laois - at 36%, and Northern and Western region - Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan, Galway, Mayo, and Roscommon - at 22%.
Meanwhile, Irish residents took 2.9 million outbound overnight trips in the fourth quarter of 2023, with 38% of these trips to a UK destination.
