Ireland's tourist accommodation outlook: capacity and pipeline Q1 2026

Overview

This report outlines the scale, distribution and future development of tourist accommodation across Ireland as of Q1 2026. It covers registered National Quality Assurance Framework (NQAF) bed places, estimated short-term let (STL) bed places and the construction planning pipeline. The data shows where supply is concentrated, how it is changing, and what types of development are moving through the pipeline.

Key findings

1. Supply: hotels and holiday lets dominate bed places

As of Q1 2026, combined tourist accommodation stock totalled an estimated 346,140 bed places. This includes 226,510 NQAF bed places and 144,360 estimated STL bed places. Hotels account for 46% of combined bed places and holiday lets account for 37%. Outdoor accommodation makes up 10%, serviced accommodation 5% and hostels 2%. Dublin accounts for 26% of national bed places, followed by Kerry at 10%. Cork and Galway each account for 9%.

2. NQAF supply: modest overall decline masks structural shifts

NQAF bed places have decreased by 1% (2,980 bed places) since Q3 2025. They are down 2% (5,480 bed places) since Q1 2023, the baseline for comparison.

The decline is not evenly distributed. Serviced accommodation (bed and breakfasts, guesthouses and townhouses) is in sustained contraction, with bed places down 21% versus Q1 2023. All but two counties (Dublin and Westmeath) have seen a fall in serviced accommodation. With just 220 bed places with plans submitted in the pipeline, recovery is unlikely in the short term.

3. Pipeline: hotels dominate a Dublin-focused pipeline

The development pipeline remains substantial. There are 13,430 bed places under construction, 37,660 bed places with plans granted and 4,760 bed places with plans submitted.

Hotels dominate across all pipeline categories, at 68% of bed places under construction and over 70% of plans granted and plans submitted.

Development remains heavily concentrated in Dublin. The capital accounts for 64% of bed places under construction and 56% of plans granted. Some 79% of hotel bed places under construction are located in Dublin. A total of 10,520 bed places are expected to complete construction by the end of 2026.

4. Regional growth: expansion is uneven across counties

Just 12 of 26 counties have shown growth in combined bed places since Q1 2023. The remaining 14 counties are declining, with growth concentrated in the east around Dublin. This suggests that regional accommodation capacity is not expanding in a balanced manner.

5. Pipeline momentum: plans submitted down year on year

While plans submitted have increased by 23% since Q3 2025, they are down 39% compared with the same quarter last year. Plans submitted are the earliest indicator of future supply in the planning system. Continued monitoring of this indicator is warranted.

What this means

This report examines Ireland's tourist accommodation capacity and development pipeline. It provides an overview of existing bedspace supply, planned developments and future growth potential to help businesses, investors and destination partners understand how accommodation capacity is changing across the country.

Supply is concentrated in Dublin and a small number of counties, so capacity pressures may ease more slowly in some regions than others. The pipeline is dominated by hotels and focused on the capital, so most new capacity will come on stream in Dublin rather than across all regions.