7.5 million guest nights booked via online platforms last year
Figures published by the European Commission show almost one million additional guest nights were spent in such accommodation in 2024 compared to the previous year.
The figures, which are based on bookings made by holidaymakers through Airbnb, Booking, Expedia and Tripadvisor, confirm a strong performance by the tourist industry in 2024, both in Ireland and across the EU.
They reveal that foreign tourists accounted for approximately three-quarters of all guest nights in such accommodation in Ireland last year, booking over 5.5 million nights – up 17%.
The rate of growth was more sluggish among Irish holidaymakers, with over 1.9 million guest nights recorded in the domestic segment of the market in 2024, which is an annual increase of 10%.
On a regional level, the figures highlight how bookings are spread relatively evenly around the country, with almost 2.8 million guest nights spent in short-stay tourist accommodation last year in the southern region, which includes Cork, Kerry, Clare, Waterford, Wexford and Kilkenny. This is up 14% yearly.
A total of 2.35 million guest nights were booked in the northern and western regions, which includes Galway and Mayo, as well as most counties in the border region, representing an annual increase of almost 14%.
However, the biggest growth was recorded in the eastern and midland region, which includes Dublin and other counties in mid and north Leinster, where guest nights were up over 17% to almost 2.3 million.
At the same time, the eastern and midland region is the only one of the three Irish regions, based on EU classifications, which has still not exceeded its pre-pandemic number of bookings.
Despite last year's strong performance, the number of guest nights spent in the eastern and midland region is still 24% below the three million recorded in 2019.
In contrast, the number of guest nights in the northern and western region in 2024 was 39% ahead of pre-pandemic levels, while the figure for the southern region was 27%.
Overall, guest nights across Ireland booked via online platforms last year were up almost 8% on 2019 levels.
The latest figures show the eastern and midland region – largely due to Dublin's presence – is the most popular region for such stays among foreign visitors, with just over two million last year.
However, Dublin does not feature in the list of the top 20 of Europe's most popular city destinations based on guest nights arranged through online booking platforms.
Paris was again the favourite location with 23.5 million guest nights – the equivalent of almost 65,000 guests daily in the French capital.
It was followed by Rome (15.7 million); Barcelona (12.5 million); Madrid (11.8 million) and Lisbon (11.3 million).
Other cities with high levels of bookings via online platforms were Milan, Budapest, Athens, Nice, Porto and Vienna.
Across the EU, bookings soared to a record-breaking 854 million guest nights last year – up almost 19% on 2023 figures with an extra 135 million guest nights.
More than one in five of all guest nights last year were spent in France, with 192.4 million bookings, followed by Spain (170.6 million); Italy (126.7 million); Germany (60.4 million) and Greece (45.4 million).
Ireland is ranked in 15th place behind Sweden (8.0 million) but ahead of Denmark (7.3 million).
The most popular regions in the EU for tourists using such accommodation were Andalucia, Spain (44 million nights), the Adriatic region in Croatia (35 million) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France (31 million).
The latest figures also show that more than a third of all guest nights arranged through platform-booked accommodation across the EU occurred in July and August, as well as in Ireland, where the two months accounted for 34% of all guest nights.
The figures, published by Eurostat, are the result of a landmark agreement reached in 2020 between the European Commission and the four leading platforms providing short-term accommodation booking services. It excludes figures for other types of accommodation, such as hotels or campsites.
The latest figures show solid growth in the number of guest nights booked online in the first quarter of 2025 across the EU – up 4.8% compared to the same period last year to 129.6 million guest nights.
However, numbers are up less than 1% in Ireland to just over 904,000.
The figures no longer include data on Tripadvisor since the start of 2025 as the company has exited the short-stay accommodation sector.
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