Irish domestic and outbound travel continued to rise in the first three months of the year following a 2025 dip, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
Irish residents took 3.1 million trips outside the country in the first quarter of 2026, the CSO’s latest household travel survey said.
This marked a 5 per cent rise on the number of outbound trips taken in the same period last year.
Overall, Irish residents spent 13.9 million nights outside the country between January and March.
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“The distribution of these nights was led by holiday purposes, accounting for 59 per cent of the total,” said Aaron Costello, statistician in the tourism and travel division of the CSO.
“Visits to friends or relatives represented 23 per cent of the nights, while business-related travel made up 7 per cent.”
Regarding the increase in outbound travel, Irish Travel Agents Association president Tom Randles said: “Following a long wet winter, many consumers opted for last-minute sunshine breaks, helping to drive strong demand for overseas holidays.
“The Canary Islands remained the leading destination for Irish holidaymakers during the first quarter, while the Caribbean, the west coast of the United States and Thailand were among the most popular long-haul destinations.”
While the number of trips were up, the average duration was marginally down from 4.7 nights last year to 4.5 nights this year.
“The slight reduction in average trip length reflects a continuing trend towards shorter, more frequent breaks,” Randles said.
“It is also worth noting that these figures reflect travel patterns before the outbreak of the Gulf conflict, which will influence booking trends later in the year.”
In total, Irish residents spent €2.16 billion on outbound trips in the first quarter, compared with €679.3 million on domestic travel.
The CSO findings corresponded with recent Eurostat research indicating that tourism broadly increased across Europe in the first few months of the year compared to 2025.
Domestic overnight trips also saw a boost of 6 per cent compared to 2025, largely accounting for visits to friends and families (39 per cent) followed by holiday purposes (38 per cent).
Trips in the south of Ireland were by far the most popular, with more than two in five Irish overnight trips taking place in the southern region.
The number of nights spent on domestic trips rose by 9 per cent, with Irish residents staying for a total of six million nights.
“We welcome the increase in tourism,” said Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, chief executive of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation, “but it does have to be noted that the first quarter of 2026 included Easter.”
The holiday would have given domestic travel figures a “bounce” for the first quarter, he said.
Last year, Easter was in April, meaning it would not have been included in the travel figures for the first quarter of 2025.
