Increase in domestic travel since pandemic, CSO

Irish residents took 2.3 million domestic overnight trips in the first quarter of 2022, an increase of 7 per cent when compared with the same period in 2020, the last quarter before the onset of the pandemic.

This is according to the latest figures released from the Central Statistics Office.

The south of the country proved to be the most popular region for domestic travel, with 987,000 people visiting for overnight stays in the first quarter of 2022. While the east of the country was the second most popular, followed by the west.

There were almost 1.1 million outbound overnight trips taken by Irish residents, which represented a decrease of 31 per cent when compared with the first quarter of 2020.

Total expenditure on domestic overnight trips amounted to €471 million with those on holidays spending €292 million of this, while those visiting friends or relatives spent €83 million.

There were 78,000 domestic overnight business trips taken, which was down 43 per cent on the same period in 2020.

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 January, February and March 2022. When compared with the same period in 2021, the data demonstrates the strong recovery in travel as covid-19 restrictions lessen.

“There were 2,308,000 domestic overnight trips taken in the first quarter of 2022 which was more than eight times the number of trips taken in quarter 1 2021 (278,000).

“The number of outbound overnight trips increased to 1,089,000 in quarter 1 2022 from 108,000 in Quarter 1 2021.

“While domestic overnight holiday trips and visits to friends or relatives have returned to levels seen in quarter 1 2020, domestic business trips are still down 43 per cent on the pre-pandemic period in Quarter 1 2020.”