Irish residents spent almost €5bn on foreign holidays in 2018 – CSO

People living in Ireland spent almost €5 billion on foreign holidays last year, according to official data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The figures point to an increasingly mobile populace with significant increases recorded in both domestic and overseas travel.

Irish residents took more than 10.9 million domestic trips last year (an increase of 13.4 per cent on 2017) with each one lasting an average of 2.6 days, the CSO said. More than 5 million of all the domestic trips were classified as holidays while 3.8 million trips or 34 per cent were to visit friends or relatives.

Total expenditure on domestic trips amounted to more than €2 billion, some €1.2 billion of which was accounted for by those on holidays, while those visiting friends or relatives spent €353 million.

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People who stayed in hotel accommodation accounted for more than 4.2 million domestic trips while those staying with family and friends accounted for 3.8 million trips.

More than 8.6 million outbound trips were undertaken by Irish residents last year, up 5.8 per cent on 2017.

The average length of stay on outbound trips was seven nights, varying from six nights within the European Union to 11.6 nights in North America to 33.3 nights in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania.

Irish residents spent some €7.4 billion on outbound trips last year, of which some €4.9 billion was spent on holidays. A further €1 billion was spent on business trips and €963.6 million on visiting friends or relatives, the CSO said.

Irish residents who stayed in hotel accommodation abroad accounted for almost 22.3 million nights last year, while those staying in self-catering-rented properties accounted for 13 million nights.

The UK and Spain are by far the most popular destination within the EU for Irish tourists while the US is the most popular long-haul destination.