Irish residents made a record number of trips abroad this year. Figures published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday show that between January and July, Irish people made almost 4.5 million Irish trips overseas.
The figures show that there has been a steady increase in overseas travel from Ireland in recent years, with a 25 per cent increase in trips made during the January to July period since 2005.
The figures also show that in July, 12 per cent more trips were made by visitors to Ireland than by Irish residents to overseas countries. However, in July this year, several travel agents told The Irish Times that they had noticed a marked increase in last-minute bookings for that month, with the cold, wet weather at home cited as the cause for a rush to leave the country.
"We are 20 to 30 per cent busier than we were this time last year. People don't care where they go. Last Monday morning, there were people queuing outside one of our Dublin agencies before opening hours," Clem Walsh from Budget Travel said in July.
There was an increase in the number of overseas visitors to the country for the month of July and for the January to July period this year. These figures have been increasing steadily over recent years, with an overall 17 per cent rise in trips made to Ireland since 2005.
More than 2.25 million UK residents made a trip to Ireland before the end of July this year. The overall number of visitors from the UK in 2006 was 4,059,800, which far exceeds the number of trips made by the next most frequent groups of visitors, from the US and Germany - 967,800 and 422,300 respectively.
July is the busiest month for trips made abroad, while January and February see the least number of people entering and leaving the country.