Foreign holiday spend slumps 44% in 3 years

SPENDING on foreign holidays fell by almost 22% in the first quarter of this year as Irish people continue to tighten their budgets.

Figures released by the Central Statistics Office’s Household Travel Survey show that Irish people spent €635.7m on international travel during the first three months of this year, compared with €814m last year.

And a look back at the same quarter in 2008, when €1.1bn was spent, puts the fall in spending on foreign holidays over the last three years at almost 44%.