DUBLIN, Ireland: Ireland's tourism agencies have spent more than 1 million euros paying influencers, celebrities and online content creators to promote holiday destinations on social media since the start of last year, according to newly released figures.

Fáilte Ireland paid a total of 250,797 euros to influencers and celebrities during the 18 months up to July 2026. Among those who received payments were former Miss Universe Ireland Roz Purcell and podcaster Éadaoin Fitzmaurice.

The agency also covered the cost of hotels, food and activities for social media personalities during 38 trips around Ireland. Those expenses came to a further 40,857 euros.

Purcell was paid for seven promotional trips since the beginning of last year. Her visits included destinations in Tipperary, Cavan, Kerry and Sligo. Fitzmaurice made six trips, traveling to places such as Galway, Clare and Roscommon.

Other influencers who received money for promoting Irish tourism included Tadhg Fleming, Katja Mia, Kevin Penrose and Marcus O'Laoire.

The blogging pair known as the Gastro Gays were also paid to promote a food campaign in Galway in March last year.

Fáilte Ireland is the state agency responsible for developing and promoting tourism within the Republic of Ireland. Tourism Ireland, meanwhile, is responsible for promoting the island of Ireland as a destination in overseas markets.

Tourism Ireland receives 60 percent of its funding from the Irish Government, while the Northern Ireland Executive provides the remaining 40 percent.

The overseas tourism body spent 418,460 euros on influencers and content creators during 2025. Its spending is already on course to pass that figure in 2026, with 352,654 euros spent during the first six months of this year.

The highest-paid influencer working with Tourism Ireland last year received 26,072 euros. That person had a social media audience of about 6.6 million people. The second-highest payment was 15,000 euros, made to an individual with an audience of 489,600.

Tourism Ireland worked with 189 influencers during 2025 and had already engaged 144 influencers by the time the latest figures were released this year.

The agency said the average payment to each influencer in 2025 was 2,214 euros. Together, the influencers reached more than 81 million people across social media platforms.

Records released by Fáilte Ireland under the Freedom of Information Act provide further details about how the money was spent.

Last February, Roz Purcell, Kevin Penrose and Robyn Courtney were sent to Clare as part of Fáilte Ireland's Find Yourself a Short Break, or FYSB, campaign. The campaign aims to encourage people to take short breaks and explore destinations around Ireland.

Katya Mia also traveled to Waterford for the same campaign. Grá Daly was sent to Lough Derg, while the Gastro Gays traveled to Galway to create food-focused content.

Golf influencer Kim O'Neill visited Cork last month as part of the FYSB campaign. Donegal-based adventurer Marius Monaghan was paid for a similar promotional trip in May.

The spending forms part of wider efforts by Ireland's tourism agencies to use social media personalities to showcase destinations, food, hotels and activities to both Irish and international audiences.