New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that domestic overnight trips increased by 6% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same time last year.
The CSO said the number of nights spent on domestic overnight trips taken in the first three month of 2026 was up by 9% to 6 million nights compared with the same period in 2025.
It noted that visits to friends or relatives accounted for the largest share of domestic nights at 39%, followed closely by holiday purposes at 38%. Business travel represented 5% of all overnight stays.
Meanwhile, the total number of overnight trips outside of Ireland in the first quarter of the year rose by 5% to 3.1 million compared with the same time last year.
Irish residents spent a total of 13.9 million nights on overnight trips outside of Ireland.
Holiday purposes accounted for 59% of the total, while visits to friends or relatives represented 23% of the nights and business-related travel made up 7%.
The average length of stay for overnight trips outside of Ireland was 4.5 nights, down from 4.7 in the first quarter of last year, the CSO added.
