Irish residents took 4.5 million domestic overnight trips in July, August and September (Q3) 2023, which was unchanged when compared with the same period in 2022.
Total expenditure on domestic overnight trips in Q3 2023 amounted to €1.1 billion with those on holiday spending €742 million of this, while those visiting friends or relatives spent €225 million.
Nights spent in Irish hotels by Irish residents amounted to 2.5 million in the third quarter of 2023, while nights spent in self-catering or rented accommodation totalled 2.7 million.
Irish residents took 4.0 million outbound overnight trips in Q3 2023, with over one-third of these trips (34%) to a UK destination.
This is the first release of outbound travel data for Quarter 1 to Quarter 3 2023. From Q3 2022 outbound travel by Irish residents has been calibrated to the new CSO Inbound Tourism statistical series. Methodological advancements in that survey mean that current results are not directly comparable to the former CSO Overseas Travel series, on which outbound travel was calibrated up to Q2 2022. Therefore, there has been a technical break in the outbound travel time series and caution should be taken when comparing data from Q3 2022 and earlier periods. This change has had no impact on domestic travel results. For more information see the Background Notes.
In Q3 2023 the main reason for taking domestic overnight trips was for holidays (52%), while visiting friends or relatives accounted for 39%. One in twenty five domestic trips were for business purposes (4%).
In Q3 2023 hotel stays for domestic overnight trips were unchanged on the same period in 2022, while trips which involved staying with friends or relatives were up by 20%.
In Q3 2023 over half of domestic overnight trips were taken in the Southern region NUTS2 region (52%), while the least number of trips were taken to the Eastern and Midland region (23%).
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (21 February 2024) released Household Travel Survey Quarter 3 2023.
Commenting on the release, Brendan Curtin, Statistician in the Tourism and Travel Division, said: “This is the first release of domestic travel data by Irish residents for both Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 2023. The figures highlight the continued growth in domestic travel in the first nine months of 2023 following the disruption caused by COVID-19 restrictions. When compared with results from the same period in 2022, the number of domestic overnight trips taken in January to September 2023 was 7% higher, and 22% more than in the first three quarters of 2019.
Expenditure on overnight domestic trips amounted to €2.4 billion in the first nine months of 2023, which was 41% higher than in the same period in 2019.
In the first nine months of 2023 Irish residents also took 11.3 million domestic same-day visits and expenditure amounted to €500 million.”