THE CENTRAL STATISTICS OFFICE (CSO) has expressed confidence in its data for the tourism industry, following pushback from tourism bodies over figures recording that the number of foreign visitors to Ireland over the past year had plunged by almost one-third.

In a statement, the CSO said it was “confident” that its numbers “reflect real trends” in visitor numbers from overseas.

Those figures, published last Friday, said that some 304,300 foreign visitors completed a trip to Ireland in February 2025, down from 433,300 at the same time last year. This is a drop of 30%. 

The CSO said this data was collected according to a “consistent and robust” methodology which was “independently reviewed” before publication, but tourism figures have claimed that it overstates a decline in visitors from abroad.

Industry figures have pointed to a range of issues behind the decline, including economic uncertainty given political instability in the US, cost of living issues in the UK and Europe, and prices in Ireland. 

The data is collected on a continuous basis at international ports and airports.

A spokesperson for the CSO said it would be meeting with Tourism Ireland and other industry bodies this Friday for a pre-planned meeting, at which it expected to discuss the data.

“The CSO is confident the trends reported in the Inbound Tourism series reflect real trends in overseas visitor numbers,” a spokesperson said.

“The CSO welcomes industry feedback and routinely meets with industry stakeholders including with respect to other data sources which might help interpret the trends being observed in the Inbound Tourism release.”

Tourism Ireland and the Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) have both questioned the data this week to varying degrees.

Tourism Ireland chief Alice Mansergh told RTÉ Radio One that a “job of work” was required to “line up industry data with CSO data” due to different results produced by both bodies.

Mansergh told the News at One programme that industry data said that hotel occupancy had increased and that booking platforms also showed they were “up 2-3%” rather than down.

RAI chief executive Adrian Cummins told The Journal that his group’s figures are “reflective” of the CSO’s in terms of showing a decline, but added that it’s “not as large a drop”.

“When we did our own analysis, we’ve seen that bookings were down from international tours, and also revenue was down,” Cummins said.

“Our data is reflective of what the CSO said, but it’s not as large a drop as the CSO’s is.”

Cummins said it was crucial for everybody to be able to plan for the future by being able to understand the data and ensure “accurate” numbers were being provided.

Cummins added that the RAI had flagged a “flat season” with tourism officials but claimed it received “pushback” rather than being taken on board.

If the numbers for March of this year go on to show the decline continuing then the sector has a “major problem” on its hands, according to the restaurants industry chief.