Irish residents took 13.3 million domestic overnight trips in 2022 which amounted to €2.9 billion in expenditure. This compares with 5.7 million domestic overnight trips in 2021 and total expenditure of €1.3 billion.
Half of all domestic overnight trips in 2022 were for holiday purposes (50%), while over one-third were undertaken to visit friends or relatives (34%) in 2022.
There were 8.8 million outbound overnight trips taken by Irish residents in 2022, and total expenditure amounted to €8.6 billion. These trips accounted for almost 62 million bed nights.
For Q4 2022 outbound travel has been calibrated using CSO Passenger Survey data collected at Dublin airport. Revisions to earlier periods in 2022 may be necessary as more information becomes available from this new survey.
In Q4 2022 the main reason for taking domestic overnight trips was to visit friends or relatives (44%), while for outbound overnight trips, holidays were the main purpose of travel (54%). Business trips accounted for 4% and 9% of domestic and outbound overnight trips respectively.
In Q4 2022 hotel stays for domestic overnight trips were up 86% on the same period in 2021, while trips which involved staying with friends or relatives were up by 94%.
In Q4 2022 over two fifths of domestic overnight trips were taken in the Southern NUTS 2 region (42%), while the least number of trips were taken to the Northern and Western region (27%).
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (26 April 2023) released Household Travel Survey Quarter 4 (Q4) and Year 2022.
Commenting on the release, Brendan Curtin, Statistician in the Tourism and Travel Division, said: “The figures provide information on domestic and international travel by Irish residents in the months of October, November and December (Q4) and the full year results. The data highlights the continued strong recovery in travel by Irish residents in 2022 following the disruption caused by COVID-19 restrictions.
The number of domestic overnight trips taken in Q4 2022 was 16% higher than in the same period in pre-pandemic 2019, while the total number of outbound overnight trips increased by 14% when compared with the same quarter in 2019. Expenditure also increased in Q4 2022, up 26% for domestic overnight trips and 24% for outbound overnight trips when compared with Q4 2019. Irish residents took 13.3 million domestic overnight trips and 8.8 million outbound overnight trips in 2022. This compares with 11.6 million domestic overnight trips and 9.4 million outbound overnight trips in 2019.
In 2022 Irish residents took 16.2 million domestic same-day visits and 1.3 million outbound same-day visits. Expenditure amounted to €856 million on domestic same-day visits in 2022 which was more than double the comparable 2021 figure (€411 million). Irish residents spent €124 million on outbound same-day visits which was also up significantly on the 2021 spend (€61 million).”