Staycations gain ground as 1 in 4 chooses Ireland

HOLIDAY TRENDS:THE STAYCATION is here for good, it seems, with a quarter of us planning to take our holidays in Ireland this year, according to new figures.

After several years of contraction, the Irish tourism industry can look forward to 2010 with guarded optimism, Postbank’s research shows, with one in three of us saying we will take at least one holiday at home this year.

The bad news for domestic tourism is that 13 per cent of us aren’t planning to take any holidays, opting instead for financial reasons to stay at home.

The figure for stay-at-homers rises to 18 per cent in the case of over-65s, according to information that the bank collected for its latest savings-index survey. Seniors show the greatest loyalty to home holidays, with almost half of those questioned planning to holiday in Ireland.

Overall, 61 per cent of Irish adults say they plan to holiday abroad in 2010; 50 per cent of adults are planning to take their holidays abroad; and 11 per cent will holiday both in Ireland and overseas.

People aged 18 to 24 are most likely to venture overseas, with two-thirds planning foreign holidays. Those in their senior years are the least likely to take a foreign holiday, with only 47 per cent planning to leave Irish shores

Dubliners are most likely to take a foreign holiday (68 per cent) while Munster people are the least likely to travel abroad (53 per cent). People in Connacht and Ulster are most likely to stay at home this year, with nearly one in five staying put.

Sixteen per cent of people said they were saving for a holiday, the highest figure for 15 months. “This is consistent with a trend that we are seeing where people are saving for big events in their lives rather than just spending now and paying back the whole cost later,” said John Donegan of Postbank.

The research also found that people who do not save are twice as likely not to be going on holiday as regular savers.