'Staycations' are down in Ireland and the Easter bunny is partly to blame
Domestic travel was down 6.5% from April to June.
THE NUMBER OF Irish people holidaying at home dropped last quarter – but analysts said the decrease in ‘staycations’ is due to the date Easter fell this year.
According to the latest household travel survey from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Irish people went on over two million domestic trips from April to June of this year, a decrease of 6.5% compared to the same three-month period last year.
However, Easter fell on 27 March this year, which “shifted the usual quarterly pattern of travel”, according to the CSO.
Holidaymakers spent just over €366 million on trips around the country – over €20 million less than they did during the same period in 2015.
Again, this dip was most likely caused by the fall of the Easter bank holiday weekend this year.
Destinations in the south and east of Ireland remain the most popular holiday spots.
Most people stayed in either a hotel or with family and friends, and went for short breaks, staying an average 2.5 nights.
Bantry, Co Cork
Abroad
The number of Irish people holidaying abroad on the other hand wasn’t affected by public holidays, with the number of outbound trips continuing to rise.
CSO figures show that Irish people took over two million trips abroad from April to June, an increase of just under 4%.
Excluding the UK, where Irish citizens are most likely to visit relatives and friends, Spain remains the number one destination for Irish travellers.
Irish people when on over 500,000 trips to Spain over the three-month period, significantly more that the second most popular destination, Portugal, where they took almost 180,000 trips.
