Business trip spending down 20%

The amount of business trips and money spent on them has fallen by a fifth, new figures revealed today.

Even though Irish people are enjoying more and more trips abroad, companies hit hard by the recession are spending less and less on travel at home.

According to the Central Statistics Office, the number of domestic breaks last spring fell by almost 6% to 1.8 million.

Business trips alone fell by nearly a fifth to 388,000 compared to the same period last year.

The amount of money spent on these breaks also fell by a fifth to €35m.

The Household Travel Survey revealed €322.2m was spent on breaks at home, down a fifth, but the amount people were willing to pay for holidays remained steady.

Around €1.7bn was spent by Irish residents on foreign travel in the second quarter of 2008 – up just over 4% from the same period last year.

It is believed that Easter has played a significant part in the different figures year on year as it fell in the first quarter of this year but the second quarter in 2007.