Tripped out: Irish took off five million times in 2003

IRISH property owners in Spain are driving the surge in the number of foreign holidays we take each year, the Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA) said yesterday.

Figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show we took almost five million international trips last year up 8% on 2002 and spent e4.1 billion abroad.

International travel grew almost four times higher than domestic breaks.

ITAA president Micheal Doorley said a large number of Irish people now own villas in Spain and are taking several trips abroad every year.

"More and more Irish people have invested in property in Spain and are going over there regularly with family and friends, not only for one and two week spells, but for long weekends or four-night stays. This is one reason for the increase in foreign travel," Mr Doorley said.

While the traditional holiday destinations of Spain, Portugal and France continue to be the most popular, more people are heading for more exotic or adventurous countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Dubai, South Africa and Thailand.

This is supported by the CSO figures which show that 79% of all international trips in 2003 were to the main EU countries. Travel to other European destinations, such as Croatia, Czech Republic, and Turkey, grew by 40%.

"The package beach holiday is still the most popular, but people are now taking one week on the beach instead of two and opting for a city break holiday or a longer break in a more adventurous location," he said.

While our international travel has increased, Irish people still took 6.7m domestic breaks last year, up 3% on 2002. The south-west was the most popular location recording the highest number of trips (1.4m) and interestingly, 40.5% of all domestic trips taken by residents of the south-west were within that region.

Estimated spending power on domestic trips rose by 4.3% to €970.9m, while we spent €575.9m on domestic holidays, a rise of 15%.

Fáilte Ireland chief executive Shaun Quinn welcomed the results of the CSO Household Travel Survey which he said showed strong growth in the domestic holiday market. He said Fáilte Ireland, building on this success, has earmarked a record spend of €3.3m on its Discover Ireland campaign for 2004.

"The programmes of Fáilte Ireland and the Regional Tourism Authorities have successfully tapped into the potential of the Ireland market, particularly in increasing the number of short breaks throughout Ireland," Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism John O'Donoghue said.