TOURISTS TO IRELAND stayed here for a combined total of 4.8 million nights in December and spent around €427 million.

Some 524,100 foreign visitors came to Ireland last December, up 34% when compared with December 2024.

The €427 spent by these visitors while in Ireland last December was an increase of 30% when compared to December 2024.

But while there was a big tourist boost last December compared to the same month a year previous, the total number of foreign visitors to Ireland over the course of 2025 fell by 3% to 6.4 million.

For the full year of 2025, visitors from Britain account for the largest share of foreign visitors to Ireland, at 38%.

This was followed by visitors from Continental Europe (33%), and the US (24%).

Visitors from the rest of the world made up the remaining five percent.

Last year, 40% of foreign visitors came to Ireland mainly for a holiday, while 35% came to visit friends and relatives.

Some 15% of trips were for business reasons.

Expenditure by foreign tourists over the course of last year was €5.5 billion, down 9% compared to the €6 billion spent in 2024.

The figures come from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and Minister for Tourism, Peter Burke, today said it represents a “powerful year-end boost for tourism”.

He added that the figures highlight “real momentum building in the market as we move into 2026”.

“These figures underline the high value of international tourism, and Ireland’s continued attractiveness as a destination,” said Burke.

He also remarked that the first half of 2025 was “more challenging than the same period in 2024 and 2023”.

He said this was “likely due to the ongoing global macro‑economic uncertainty” and also pointed to the “impact of the Dublin Airport passenger cap at the beginning of the year”.

The current passenger cap is 32 million a year, but some 36.4 million passengers travelled through Dublin Airport last year, well in excess of the cap.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin last month confirmed that legislation is being drafted to remove the passenger cap.

Meanwhile, Burke remarked that “performance rallied and strengthened in the second half of the year, with growth led by Britain and North America”.

He also acknowledged that passenger numbers overall for 2025 were down on 2024, but said that this is because “2024 was acknowledged globally as a bumper year for tourism”.

Compared to 2023, the overall number of tourists to Ireland last year was up 2%.

Burke said the outlook for the tourism sector for 2026 is “very positive” and remarked that new routes will emerge to the US, Germany, France and Britain later in the year.

He added that the government will enact a new strategy this year to “deepen and defend tourism from the United States and Britain” and to increase tourism from Continental Europe.

Burke said the new strategy will also involve “investing in growth markets such as Canada and laying the foundations for long‑term partnerships in India and China”.