A strong increase in tourists coming to Ireland during December provided a boost to what had been a difficult 2025 for visitor numbers ending the year just 3% down compared to 2024, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.
Throughout much of the year, monthly tourism statistics had been showing a consistent decline compared to 2024. The first half of 2025 saw a near 13% decline in overall tourism numbers, leading many tourism industry associations to question the figures being produced by the CSO.
The CSO stood by their data.
Visitor numbers stabilised in the second half of the year with marginal growth being recorded between August and October. In November, visitor numbers recorded a 12.9% increase year-on-year.
December then saw an even bigger increase of 34% over the course of the month compared to the same period in 2024.
Some 524,100 foreign visitors completed a trip to Ireland in December 2025, an increase of 34% or 133,400, when compared with December 2024.
During December, foreign visitors stayed a total of 4.8 million nights in the country, an increase of 24%, and their estimated expenditure, excluding fares, amounted to €427m.
In total, 1.67 million passengers departed Ireland during December — up 14% — with the majority, 59.4%, Irish residents heading out of the country.
Over the course of the full year, foreign visitor numbers declined by 3% to 6.4 million.
Across the entire 2025, Britain accounted for the largest share of total visitors at 38%, compared with continental Europe at 33%, and North America at 24%.
Overall, these visitors stayed a combined 47.9 million nights, down by 3% compared with 2024, while the average length of stay for trips made during 2025 was 7.5 nights, the same as in 2024.
They spent a combined €5.5bn, down 9% year-on-year.
Of those visitors in 2025, 40% indicated that the main purpose for their trip was for holidays or leisure, while 35% said it was for visiting friends, and relatives. A further 15% said it was for business reasons.
