New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that 528,100 foreign visitors left Ireland on overseas routes in April, a decrease of 4% on April last year but an increase of 14% compared with April 2023.
The typical foreign visitor spent €995 (€711 excluding fares) on their trip to Ireland, breaking down as €284 on their fare, €33 on prepayments, €280 on accommodation and €398 on day-to-day expenses. In April last year, the comparable mean expenditure on these items was €272, €30, €331, and €400 respectively.
The CSO said the total amount spent by foreign visitors (including fares) was €525.4m.
Visitors from Great Britain accounted for €96m (26%) of this spend, Continental Europe for €134m (36%), North America for €121m (32%), and visitors from the Rest of the World for €25m (7%).
Taken together, this represented a fall of 10% compared with April 2024, but a rise of 1% compared with April 2023.
Today's figures show that visitors stayed a total of 3.4 million nights in the country, a drop of 1% when compared with April last year, and down 6% when compared with April 2023.
The average length of stay for foreign resident overnight visitors was 6.5 nights, up from an average of 6.4 nights in April 2024, but down from 7.9 nights in April 2023.
Meanwhile, the largest contingent of visitors came from Great Britain (41%), followed by visitors from the US (18%).
The CSO said that visitors from Great Britain were up 2% compared with April 2024, while visitors from all other areas were down.
However, when compared with April 2023, visitors from Great Britain were up 13%, tourists from the US rose by 8%, while visitors from Continental Europe increased by 28%, and from the rest of the world by 26%.
Visitors' most frequent reason for their journey was for holiday or leisure (40%), followed by visiting friends or relatives (38%).
More of the visitors stayed with family or in their own property (42%) than in any other accommodation type, the CSO noted.
