Hike in number of people travelling abroad

AN increasing number of Irish people are travelling abroad while fewer visitors are choosing to come here, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office.

Overseas trips by Irish residents increased by 3.7% to 845,600 in August 2008, compared to 815,700 in August 2007. This brings to 5,515,300 the number of overseas trips so far in 2008, an increase of 5.1% over the same period in 2007.

However, the rate of growth has declined from 12.2% between the same period in 2006 and 2007.