Irish residents take 1.6m trips abroad in first quarter

Irish residents made 1.6 million trips abroad in the first quarter of the year, spending more than €1.2 billion, travel figures published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) reveal.

The UK and Spain were the two most popular destinations in terms of trip numbers at 624,000 and 267,000 respectively.

The number of outbound trips increased by 5.5 per cent on the same period last year and involved some 9.7 million bed nights and an average length of stay of six nights.

Over half (52.1 per cent) of all outbound trips were holidays, while almost a quarter (24.3 per cent) were for visiting friends or relatives.

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Irish residents spent €1.2 billion on their outbound trips for the three months, of which almost €652 million was spent on holidays, €263 million on business trips and over €180 million on visiting friends and relatives.

There were nearly 1.9 million domestic trips by Irish residents in the first three months of the year, a drop of 9 per cent when compared to the same period last year.

This contrasts with a 19.5 per cent increase in domestic trips in the first quarter of 2016 when compared with the same period in 2015.

But the CSO noted the number of trips taken is influenced by when Easter falls. This year, Easter Sunday fell on April 16th, while in 2016 it fell on March 27th.

Holidays accounted for 43.7 per cent of all domestic trips, while more than a third (36.3 per cent) were to visit friends or relatives.

Each trip had an average duration of two nights, resulting in 3.8 million bed nights.

Visitors who stayed in hotel accommodation accounted for 901,000 (47.8 per cent) of domestic trips in the first quarter of the year, while those who stayed with family and friends accounted for 674,000 (35.8 per cent).

Total spending on domestic trips for the three months was €347.2million, with just over €187 million of that spent by those on holidays.