Over 528,000 foreign visitors came to Ireland in April 2025, down by 4%

Kenneth Fox

A total of 528,100 foreign visitors completed a trip to Ireland in April 2025, down 4 per cent compared with April 2024, and up 14 per cent compared with April 2023.

The visitors spent €375 million on their trips (excluding fares), down 10 per cent compared with April 2024, and up 1 per cent compared with April 2023.

The largest contingent of visitors came from Great Britain (41 per cent), followed by visitors from the United States (18 per cent).

The most frequent reason for travelling to Ireland was for holiday (40 per cent).

Visitors stayed a total of 3.4 million nights in the country, a drop of 1 per cent when compared with April 2024, and down 6 per cent 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, and down from 7.9 nights in April 2023.

Commenting on the release, Gregg Patrick, statistician in the tourism and travel Division, said: “The results show that 528,100 foreign visitors departed Ireland on overseas routes in April 2025, a decrease of 4 per cent compared with April 2024 and an increase of 14 per cent compared with April 2023.

Visitors' expenditure in Ireland (excluding fares) was €375 million.

Visitors from Great Britain accounted for €96 million (26 per cent) of this spend, Continental Europe for €134 million (36 per cent), North America for €121 million (32 per cent), and visitors from the rest of the world for €25 million (7 per cent).

Taken together, this represented a fall of 10 per cent compared with April 2024, and a rise of 1 per cent compared with April 2023.

The visitors most frequent reason for their journey was for holiday or leisure (40 per cent). Their second most frequent reason was to visit friends or relatives (38 per cent).

More of the visitors stayed with family or in their own property (42 per cent) than in any other accommodation type, and the typical visit lasted 6.5 nights.”

Speaking about the figures, Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, chief executive of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation, said: “Industry use a variety of data sources, both their own and independently collated, and April was a strong month compared to the same month last year.

"Industry record bums on seats and heads on pillows as opposed to the CSO sample survey – there remains a misalignment of sorts between the two data sources but it is narrowing and this is welcome”.