Nearly 6.6 million inbound international tourists visited Ireland during 2024 – 5% up on 2023 levels – latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.
Those visitors spent a combined €6bn here; 11% more than the amount of spend in 2023.
North American tourists were the main growth driver (their spend rising by a staggering 19% during the year) for Ireland’s inbound tourism economy last year, but there were also healthy contributions from visitors from Britain and mainland Europe.
For the month of December, alone, the CSO figures show softer metrics, driven by various factors. These included capacity – with the Dublin Airport passenger cap and the closure of Holyhead Port not only reducing capacity but also driving a double-digit increase in fares during December.
Tourism Ireland said: “In December, 5 out of 10 visitors were visiting friends and relatives, up from 3 out of 10 for the rest of the year, due to Christmas. Holidaymakers made up a smaller than usual proportion of total visitors. This is a typical trend in December but may have been exacerbated by trends in capacity and fares.
Responding to the overall figures, Tourism Ireland said: “Despite strong growth at regional airports, challenges in volumes of visitors may persist through the coming winter months, as the cap at Dublin Airport has an impact. While there is a ‘hold’ for legal consideration of the airport cap for summer 2025, there is still impact from applying the cap in winter. Island wide, air seat capacity for the winter from Great Britain has dipped to 97% the level of last winter and from North America to 96% and these are two of our key markets.
“Looking to the year ahead, Tourism Ireland will invest in an extensive and targeted programme of activity across 13+ overseas source markets. The organisation is working closely with air and sea carriers, as well as promoting ‘must visit’ reasons to choose the island of Ireland.”
