Tourists spent almost half a billion euro in Ireland last month, according to data compiled by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
Of the 447,500 foreign visitors who departed Ireland on overseas routes in November, 40.8 per cent were from Britain, 16.8 per cent were from the United States and 6.6 per cent were from Germany, the figures show.
The CSO said the expenditure of foreign visitors on their trips to Ireland over the month amounted to €441.1 million. The most frequent reason for visiting Ireland was for holiday or leisure purposes (39.6 per cent).
The tourists stayed a total of 3,082,300 nights in the country, which equated to an average of 6.9 nights.
Stealth sackings: why do employers fire staff for minor misdemeanours?
The key decisions now facing Donald Trump which will have a big impact on the Irish economy
MenoPal app offers proactive support to women going through menopause
Ezviz RE4 Plus review: Efficient budget robot cleaner but can suffer from wanderlust under the wrong conditions
About 46.5 per cent stayed in hotels, and the mean cost of their trips to Ireland was €986. This comprised €240 on fares, €27 on prepayments, €312 on accommodation and €406 on day-to-day expenditure.
2023: The year in business
In total, 1,361,500 passengers departed Ireland on overseas routes in November. The majority of these (57.9 per cent) were Irish residents heading outbound for tourism or other purposes.
A further 9.3 per cent were same-day visitors, comprising Northern Ireland residents heading outbound via an airport or seaport in the Republic (4 per cent); foreign resident transfer passengers (3.7 per cent); or other foreign resident same-day visitors (1.6 per cent).
[ Ireland’s ocean economy grew its turnover by 17% last yearOpens in new window ]
Some 32.9 per cent of the departing passengers were foreign resident overnight visitors, constituting 447,500 visitors in total.
In terms of expense, tourists spent €181.8 million on “day-to-day spending”, which includes most things apart from accommodation. The next costliest subheading was accommodation, at €139.7 million (31.7 per cent of the total).
Fares cost a further €107.3 million (24.3 per cent). Lastly, prepayments, for items paid in advance such as car hire and pre-booked tickets, comprised just €12.3 million (2.8 per cent).
- Sign up for Business push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Find The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Our Inside Business podcast is published weekly – Find the latest episode here