Ireland to Italy Travel

Data sources and methodology

The analysis draws on two complementary datasets that measure different dimensions of Ireland–Italy travel and are deliberately kept separate throughout.

Airline capacity estimates are derived from direct route reviews on FlightsFrom.com and carrier websites, using aircraft type and seasonally differentiated load factor assumptions. ISTAT data provides monthly observed arrivals and nights for Irish residents in Italian collective accommodation establishments. The two sources are not directly comparable but are complementary: They tell a consistent story about scale, seasonality and travel behaviour when read together.

Overall scale of Ireland–Italy travel

The ISTAT data provides independent validation from the Italian side. In 2023, Irish residents recorded 617,775 arrivals and 2,341,517 nights in Italian collective accommodation. In 2024, this grew to 640,674 arrivals and 2,414,418 nights – year-on-year growth of approximately 3.7% in arrivals and 3.1% in nights.

The difference between the aviation estimate (~1.2 million trips) and the ISTAT arrival count (~641,000 in 2024) is expected and not a contradiction. ISTAT counts only arrivals recorded in paid collective accommodation; it excludes private rentals, stays with friends and family, second homes, and business travellers using alternative accommodation. The aviation figure counts all direct-flight passengers regardless of accommodation type. Together the two sources frame the likely market: More than 640,000 Irish residents stayed in formal Italian accommodation in 2024, within a broader flow that is roughly double that when informal accommodation, VFR and private arrangements are included.

Seasonality: Strong summer peak, resilient winter baseline

Monthly ISTAT data for 2023–2024 reveals a clear seasonal pattern, but one that is more nuanced than a simple summer peak.

Source: ISTAT, Dataset DCSC_TUR_5 (esploradati.istat.it); Irish residents in Italian collective accommodation.

Four features stand out from the monthly pattern:

• Early-summer peak (June–July): Peak monthly arrivals reach roughly 86,000–91,000 in June and July of both years, with nights spent peaking at approximately 0.39–0.41 million. This is driven by extended leisure, touring and cultural holidays, and by Irish school-holiday timing. Average stays are longest in June and July (around 4.3–4.7 nights in the accommodation sample).
• August dip and September rebound: August arrivals are actually lower than June or July (around 70,000–73,000), reflecting Italian domestic holidays and reduced supply of formal accommodation for international visitors. September then rebounds strongly – 82,721 arrivals in September 2024, the third-highest month of the year – driven by shoulder-season touring and cultural travel. This is an under-appreciated feature of the market.
• Spring and October shoulders: April, May and October record 47,000–74,000 arrivals per month, with shorter average stays (around 3.1–3.4 nights). This shape is consistent with city breaks and walking and cultural trips to Rome, Florence, Tuscany and Milan.
• Winter base (November–March): Demand does not collapse in winter but it is materially lower than the shoulder months. November and December are the weakest months (approximately 14,700–19,400 arrivals), not January or February. February 2023 in particular recorded 38,819 arrivals, supported by a mix of short breaks, ski travel and business activity.

Gateway differences: Italy is not one destination

Seasonality varies significantly by arrival airport, reflecting different travel purposes and destination roles. The estimates below are drawn from a bottom-up route model combining scheduled capacity, aircraft type and seasonally differentiated load factors across the 36 direct Ireland–Italy route-and-carrier combinations currently operating. These are modelled figures, not observed passenger counts: Gateway-level numbers should be read as indicative orders of magnitude and would ideally be calibrated against actual airport or carrier passenger data where available.

Source: Talav Advisory route model, based on FlightsFrom.com, carrier schedules and aircraft-type load factor assumptions. Figures are approximate.

Rome (FCO) – largest volume, year-round urban and business travel

Rome Fiumicino handles the largest total Ireland–Italy passenger volume, with an estimated 162,000 arrivals in the April–October window and 100,000 arrivals in November–March. Rome’s winter resilience is driven by a combination of year-round urban tourism – the city’s cultural, religious and historic draw sustains demand in every month – and substantial business travel to Italy’s capital and administrative centre, with VFR as an additional contributor. Ryanair and Aer Lingus both operate multiple daily services from Dublin year-round, making Rome the anchor of the corridor.

Bergamo (BGY) – multi-purpose winter resilience

Bergamo is served by Ryanair with two daily services year-round (approximately 91,000 arrivals Apr–Oct vs 54,000 Nov–Mar). Its winter base is supported by a combination of ski travel (to Lombardy and the wider Alpine and Dolomite resort areas), business and urban travel into Milan, and VFR flows. In that sense, Bergamo sits alongside Milan (MXP/LIN) and Turin as one of the three main ski-access gateways in the Ireland–Italy network – but unlike Turin, where ski is the dominant winter driver, BGY’s winter resilience comes from several reinforcing sources rather than a single one.

Milan (MXP + LIN) – business-driven, year-round corridor

Milan, combining Malpensa and Linate, handles roughly 112,000 summer arrivals and 56,000 winter arrivals. As Italy’s commercial and financial capital, Milan generates the strongest and most consistent business-travel flow of any Italian gateway: Linate, served year-round daily by Aer Lingus, plays a particularly pronounced role in carrying this business traffic and suppressing the winter trough. Milan is structurally the gateway most analogous to a year-round business corridor, supplemented by urban and ski-access leisure demand.

Pisa (PSA) – gateway to Florence and Tuscany

Pisa is the main air gateway to Florence and the wider Tuscany region, and also serves as an access point to the Ligurian coast. It is the most season-concentrated of the four main gateways: Approximately 101,000 arrivals in April–October vs 42,000 in November–March. The region is overwhelmingly driven by summer walking, cycling, cultural and touring holidays, with Florence-based city-break and art-and-culture travel adding a meaningful shoulder-season component. Winter service is retained but at materially reduced frequency.

Seasonality shares are indicative estimates from the route model. Average-stay data from ISTAT DCSC_TUR_5.

Why this analysis matters

Understanding Ireland–Italy travel at gateway and season level rather than as a national aggregate has practical implications across three domains:

• Aviation route planning: Route viability in Ireland–Italy is highly dependent on which demand segments are active in which season at each airport. A route that is commercially viable in summer on leisure demand may require a different frequency strategy in winter, or may not be viable year-round at all without business, VFR or ski traffic. Treating “Italy” as a single market overstates winter opportunities at some gateways (for example Pisa) and understates them at others (for example the ski-access gateways of Bergamo, Milan and Turin).
• Tourism strategy: The 3.8-night average stay indicates a market dominated by city breaks, touring and activity holidays rather than long-stay resort travel. Shoulder-season trips, while shorter in duration, are economically important because they spread demand across the calendar. Strategies that extend the shoulder season – including September, which is already a strong standalone peak – or develop new winter tourism products (ski packages, city breaks, culinary tourism) can grow total nights without increasing peak-season pressure.
• Regional planning: Gateway-level analysis reveals that “Italy” is accessed differently from different parts of Ireland and for different purposes. Regional airports in Ireland serving routes to Bergamo, Pisa or Naples serve structurally different demand from Dublin–Rome, and should be evaluated on that basis.

Conclusions

Ireland–Italy is a large, structurally resilient travel market that generates approximately 1.2 million passenger trips per year on direct routes. Official ISTAT data confirms 640,674 arrivals in Italian collective accommodation in 2024, generating 2,414,418 nights, at an average stay of 3.77 nights. Both arrivals and nights grew year-on-year in 2024.

The market is strongly seasonal at the aggregate level but significantly more nuanced by gateway: Rome, Milan and Turin all combine meaningful year-round business travel with leisure, cultural and (for the northern gateways) ski flows – and together with Bergamo make up the ski-access gateways of the Ireland–Italy network. Pisa is substantially summer-concentrated, serving Florence and the wider Tuscany region. Verona supports a mix of city and ski-adjacent travel. Travel purpose shifts materially across the calendar, from leisure and touring in summer, through city breaks and cultural travel in the shoulders, to a mix of ski, business and VFR in winter.

Data sources