Irish Hoteliers Concerned About Ongoing Drop In Overseas Visitor Expenditure

The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) has expressed ‘serious concerns’ about an ongoing drop in expenditure by overseas visitors, according to the latest CSO statistics for inbound tourism.

Figures show a drop in expenditure of 6% in June compared to last year following an already weak performance year to date.

“While our own industry data indicates that occupancy rates for hotels are on a par with last year, we are seeing a softening in revenue and room prices,” said Paul Gallagher, IHF chief executive.

“This appears to be part of a wider decline in tourism spend so far this year as indicated by recent CSO figures.”

Mr Gallagher noted that recent research by Fáilte Ireland shows that 51% of tourism businesses have seen a decrease in revenues to date in 2025 compared with last year.

The IHF believe the results indicate that overseas visitor spend, which typically accounts for 70% of tourism revenue, is a significant concern.

The federation said this is particularly challenging for ‘Food & Drink’ businesses, with 75% reporting a drop in overseas revenue so far this year.

“If this weakness continues throughout the summer, it would pose a very significant challenge for tourism businesses nationwide that are already struggling under unsustainable increases in operating costs,” said Paul Gallagher.

“This is at a time when we are experiencing difficult headwinds on a number of other fronts, including economic challenges across our key source markets, increased political uncertainty internationally and the fallout from EU/US tariffs – all of which threaten Irish tourism.”