Overseas trips fall by 13 per cent

Overseas trips by Irish residents fell by more than 13 per cent in February, compared with February of last year, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office.

So far this year, trips abroad by Irish residents have fallen by almost 11 per cent to 976,100. This is a complete reversal of the growth in numbers seen in the early part of last year.

The figures also show a drop in the number of overseas trips here in February. Trips to Ireland fell by 5.5 per cent to 445,200, when compared with February 2008.

As in previous months, a fall in the number of trips from Britain accounted for much of the decrease. There were 15,000 fewer trips from Britain in February - a reduction of 5.8 per cent.

And the number of trips from the US fell by almost a fifth, from 46,800 to 37,500. However, trips from Europe increased by 1 per cent to 149,100.

So far this year, overseas trips here are down by 4.3 per cent to 869,400. This compares with an increase of almost 1 per cent at the same time last year.