Domestic travel is showing “continued growth” since disruption caused by pandemic restrictions, as the number of domestic overnight trips taken by Irish residents in the first quarter of this year was up 11 per cent on the same period in 2022.

The Central Statistic Office’s (CSO) latest Household Travel Survey shows that Irish residents made 2.6 million overnight trips within the country in the months of January, February and March this year – an increase on 2.3 million trips in the first quarter of 2022.

Brendan Curtin, Statistician in the Tourism and Travel Division of the CSO, said that the data “highlights the continued growth in domestic travel following the disruption caused by COVID-19 restrictions”.

Total expenditure on overnight trips in the first quarter reached €517 million, an increase of 10 per cent from €417m in spending in the first three months of 2022. Over the same period, Irish residents took 2.7 million domestic same-day visits and expenditure amounted to €149 million.

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The main reason for taking domestic overnight trips was to visit friends or relatives (41 per cent) followed closely by holidays (40 per cent). Fewer than one in ten trips (7 per cent) were for business purposes.

Spending on holiday trips amounted to €271 million in the first quarter of this year, while those visiting friends or relatives spent €148 million. Expenditure on domestic business trips was €44 million, more than double the spend in the same period in 2022 (€18 million).

The most popular region visited by Irish residents on overnight trips was the southern area, accounting for 42 per cent of overnight stays or 1.1 million trips. Meanwhile the northern and western region had the least number of trips (0.6 million), accounting for 24 per cent of all domestic stays.

The number of nights spent in Irish hotels by Irish residents was 17 per cent higher in the first quarter of 2023 than in the same quarter in 2022, while the total number of stays in hotels also increased by 26 per cent.

The number of trips involving staying with friends or relatives increased by 9 per cent between the first quarter of 2022 and the same period this year, while the number of nights spent in self-catering and rented accommodation was down 33 per cent.