More spent on foreign travel, says CSO

PEOPLE ARE taking fewer trips at home and spending less on them while spending more on foreign travel, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday.

The CSO's Household Travel Survey reports that spending on domestic travel was down by just over 5 per cent to €322.2 million for the second quarter of 2008 from the corresponding period in 2007. Expenditure on business trips fell by just under 22 per cent to €35.7 million, while spending in the visiting friends and relatives category dropped by 20.6 per cent to €42 million. Holiday spending remained almost unchanged at €214.4 million.

Irish residents spent €1,799.2 million on foreign travel in the 2008 second quarter, however - up just over 4 per cent from the same period last year.

Expenditure on business trips abroad increased by just over 16 per cent to €238.7 million, as did that on visiting friends and relatives category, which was up by 25.6 per cent at €198.9 million.

The number of domestic trips fell by 5.8 per cent to 1,867,000 in the second quarter of this year from the same quarter in 2007. Total nights spent away dropped by almost 9 per cent, with those spent on business trips falling the most - by nearly 19 per cent.

The statistics reveal a different picture for the first half of 2008.

During that period, domestic trips by Irish people grew by 4.4 per cent from the same period in 2007, although the rate of increase was about a third of that a year earlier.