Ireland's plan to reverse tourism decline

Central Statistics Office (CSO) inbound tourism data for January 2025 show a 25.0% year-on-year decline in international visitor numbers, and a 27.9% decline in spend - a drop of €83M from January 2024.

Over-dependence on the North American market, and weakness in traditional European markets France and Germany, are seen as problematic issues.

The Irish government has announced several commitments that are intended to prop up the country's tourism industry:

• A "Year of the Invitation" building on the success of "The Gathering" initiative of 12 years ago
• Reducing VAT rate to 9% for restaurants, entertainment and hairdressing - businesses popular with tourists
• Institution of a new National Tourism Policy intended to ensure the long-term viability of Ireland tourism
• Infrastructure enhancements to transport, greenways, cycle routes and the Wild Atlantic Way

The Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) has called for further government action, including:

• Removing the Dublin Airport passenger cap
• Invest in regional airports
• Reduce taxes on tourism employers
• Preserve tourist accommodations in rural and coastal regions

For more, watch the video of ITIC CEO Eoghan O'Mara Walsh interviewing Tourism Ireland CEO Alice Mansergh.

Americans' Travel Demand Softening in 2025

New report from Longwoods International shows that although 88% of American travelers say they plan to travel in the next 6 months. That represents demand 5% lower than a year ago.

Other key findings:

• Americans view domestic tourism as an opportunity to explore culture:
  • History
  • Food
  • Music
  • Traditions
  • Arts
• Top priorities in choice of a domestic cultural destination are:

1. Historical landmarks
2. Traditional cuisine

• Historical landmarks are critically important for domestic travel (84%), but for international travel experiencing other cultures becomes #1 driver (67%).
• Europe (43%) is top region for international travel, but top countries of choice are Japan, Mexico and Canada.
• Top motivators for leisure travel are:

1. Fun time (20%)
2. Rest and relaxation (20%)

• Personal financial situation is of more concern (57% mentioned) than it was in February 2024, particularly re:

1. Transportation costs 54%
2. Airfares 53%
3. Inflation 52%
4. Gas prices 47%

Data come from a survey of 1000 representative (age, gender, religion) US adults aged 18+ taken 4 February 2025. Claimed margin of error is +/- 3%.

Ireland overseas inbound 2024: Mixed results

Data for overseas visitation in 2024 as reported by Ireland's Central Statistics Office (CSO) show:

• Number of visits +5%
• Spend +11%
• Number of bednights -4%

Great Britain remained the #1 Irish source market. Despite a significant share of VFRs, visit numbers and spend were both up vs. 2023.

​​​​​​​By market region, visit numbers were up by varying degrees:

1. North America +10%
2. Rest of world +7%
3. Mainland Europe +5%
4. Great Britain +3%

Spend by region was up, with the exception of Rest of World:

1. North America +8%
2. Great Britain +6%
3. Mainland Europe +3%
4. Rest of World -8%

However, except for visitors from North America, bednight numbers - or length of stay - were down for all regions:

1. North America +1%
2. Great Britain -7%
3. Rest of World -11%
4. Mainland Europe -15%

​​​​​​​Average per-visitor spend in Ireland by region was:

1. North America: 1526 euro
2. Rest of World: 1415 euro
3. Mainland Europe: 884 euro
4. Great Britain: 509 euro

As expected, results reflect the fact that Ireland is a long-haul destination for visitors from North America and Rest of World, which makes for longer stays and the resultant higher spend.

Drilling down into the mixed results for Mainland Europe reveals weakness in visitor numbers from key country markets France (visits up 2% vs European average of 5%) and Germany (visits up 4%).

But the reason for the 15% yoy decline in bednights is unclear, and problematic.

How to get overseas visitors to stay longer? Watch this space for updates.

Irish travel to US surged in 2024

New Ireland-US air routes to Denver, Cleveland, Las Vegas and other cities - plus the entry of Jet Blue into the transatlantic market and the revival of routes paused during COVID - all contributed to increased Irish visitation to the US in 2024.

In terms of per-capita travel to the US, Ireland ranked #3 globally behind only Canada and Mexico. Also in 2024, Ireland-US travel grew by 14% vs. 2023.

With the addition of Jet Blue to Aer Lingus (which serves 18 US cities), United, Delta and American, there are now 5 major carriers making more than 200 direct Ireland-US flights weekly.

And Ireland is the only country in Europe/UK with US Homeland Security pre-clearance services which enable travelers to clear US customs before entering the US.

For more information on the US market, in Ireland contact US International Trade Administration Commercial Advisor Julianne O'Leary who is located in Dublin: julianne.oleary@trade.gov .

2024 international tourism was +11% from 2023, reaching 99% of 2019

But regional results were mixed:

• Middle East 2024 visitation was +32% vs. 2019, +1% vs. 2023
• Africa: +7% vs. 2019, +12% vs. 2023
• Europe: +1% vs. 2019, +5% vs. 2023 (World's largest destination region with 747M international arrivals in 2024)
• Americas: -3% vs. 2019, +7% vs. 2023 (But Caribbean and Central America had positive growth vs. 2019.)
• Asia-Pacific: -13% vs. 2019, +33% vs. 2023

UN Tourism Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said:

"In many places, tourist arrivals and specially earnings are already higher than in 2019. Growth is expected to continue throughout 2025, driven by strong demand contributing to the socio-economic development of both mature and emerging destinations."

International tourism spend saw strong growth in 2024 after nearly reaching pre-pandemic levels in 2023 in real terms (adjusting for inflation and exchange rate fluctuations): $1.6 trillion, about 3% more than in 2023 and 4% more than in 2019.

International tourist arrivals are expected to grow 3% to 5% in 2025 vs. 2024, assuming a continued recovery of Asia-Pacific and solid growth in most other regions.

But ongoing conflicts, inflation, volatile oil prices, extreme weather events and staff shortages are among the issues that concern tourism experts about 2025.