IRISH PEOPLE are becoming increasingly adventurous when travelling abroad, a new survey has indicated.
A significant majority are now willing to tear themselves away from the pool or beach to go in search of cultural enrichment and to experiment with the local language and food, it shows.
Although most people are open to new experiences while on holidays, pockets of resistance still remain, most notably in Donegal and Longford, where there appears to be a reluctance to fully embrace the travel experience.
An online poll of nearly 13,000 people carried out by AA Travel Insurance to see how adventurous Irish tourists are while overseas found that an impressive 79 per cent said they would go in search of some class of cultural experience while on their summer break.
Three-quarters claimed to only ever eat local fare when dining out abroad, with a similar number saying they liked to get away from the main tourist traps to find a more authentic experience.
The survey also broke down attitudes to holidays by county, with people from Wicklow doing particularly well in most categories.
According to the research, people from the “garden county” are most likely to speak a local language – or at least give it a whirl – and to wander off the beaten track in search of adventure.
They are also most inclined to mingle, with three-quarters saying they regularly talk to local people while abroad. People in Longford, however, are the least likely to have a go at speaking a foreign language, with 17 per cent of residents of that county saying they are unprepared to say even a simple hello, goodbye or thank you in an unfamiliar tongue.
Longford people are also among the least likely to eat local dishes, although they are not the worst when in comes to conservative dining habits.
That dubious honour falls to the people of Co Donegal, where one in three say they seldom, rarely or never eat local cuisine. Longford is not that far behind, however, and 30 per cent of people from the midlands county said they’d rather not eat unfamiliar food.
Donegal residents also lag behind when it comes to leaving a well-trodden tourist trail, and 7 per cent of those polled admitted to never going exploring, a higher percentage than any other county.
The poll also breaks down tourist attitudes by gender, and while there is virtually no difference between the sexes when it comes to talking to locals, speaking the local language and eating the local food, women, at 46 per cent, are more likely to take at least one “cultural day trip”, compared with just 36 per cent of men.
