The number of foreign holidays taken by people during the final three months of last year fell by more than 9 per cent, and those that did get away spent less than in previous years and took shorter breaks, according to new statistics released today.
Data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows that overall, 1,710,000 trips were taken abroad during the months October through to December, down 4.5 per cent compared to the same period a year earlier. Of these trips, 1,023,000 were classed as holidays.
Foreign business travel fell by just over one tenth to 175,000 during the quarter while trips spent visiting family and/or friends overseas rose by 7.2 per cent.
In addition to a decline in the number of foreign holidays, the latest figures show that travellers spent considerably less time away compared to the same three-month period in 2007. Night spent abroad declined by 23.4 per cent to 6,587,000.
Moreover, total expenditure on overseas trips was down by over a quarter to €1,372 million and holiday spending by more than a third to €927.9 million.
Expenditure on business travel fell by 25.6 per cent to €165.4 million during the period but spending on visits to family and/or friends rose by 7.2 per cent to €221.9 million.
For 2008 as a whole, trips taken abroad by Irish residents increased by 2.7 per cent to 8,042,000. Expenditure fell by 2 per cent compared to the previous year however to €7,187 million. this marks a considerable change from 2007 when the number of trips taken and level of spending rose by 12.2 per cent and 19.7 per cent compared to 2006.
While there was a decline in the number of foreign trips taken from October to December, there was a rise in domestic travel with holidays up 6.8 per cent to 908,000 and visits to family and/or friends increasing by 12.6 per cent to 795,000. Conversely, domestic business travel was down by almost 19 per cent to 187,000.
Overall, the number of domestic trips taken by Irish residents during 2008 increased by 5 per cent to 8,339,000 compared to 2007 while the total number of nights spent away fell marginally to 26,195,000. Total spending on domestic travel was almost unchanged at €1,546 million.
