Irish spend over €5bn on trips abroad

Irish people spent more than €5bn on foreign travel last year.

More than 6.6m outbound trips were undertaken by Irish residents in 2013, with Britain continuing to be the favoured destination within the EU, followed by Spain and France.

Holidays accounted for 48% of all outbound trips, while over a quarter (28%) were for the purpose of visiting friends or relatives.

The average length of stay on outbound trips was 7.9 nights, varying between 6.7 nights within the EU, 13.5 nights in North America and 31 nights in Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania.

Almost 1.4m outbound trips were undertaken in the last three months of 2013, with Irish residents spending a total of €1.09bn on outbound trips. Of this amount, €538.3m was spent on holidays, €229.4m on visiting friends or relatives, and €221.9m on business trips.

In 2013, Irish residents who spent €1.3bn took 7.1m domestic breaks, resulting in over 20.6m bed nights.

Irish residents took 1.5m domestic trips in the last three months of 2013, an increase of 3.6% when compared to the same period 12 months earlier.

Each trip had an average duration of 2.3 nights, resulting in a total of 3.6m bed nights.

More than a third of all domestic trips (39%) were classified as holidays, while 42% were to visit friends or relatives.

Total expenditure on domestic trips in the last quarter of 2013 amounted to €281.3m.

While the latest figures do not deal with the numbers of foreign visitors to Ireland, a recent survey suggests the country can look forward to an increase in American visitors.

Ireland is in the top three dream destination for Americans, according to a survey released last week by TripAdvisor.

The bi-annual TripBarometer study — conducted by the travel review website — included more than 10,000 US respondents and looked at worldwide travel patterns, as well as the planning and booking habits of travellers at different life stages.

When asked about their dream destinations to visit, the top three for American travellers were Italy, Australia, and Ireland.

New routes

CityJet is to start flights from Cambridge Airport to Dublin and Amsterdam.

From May 12 the carrier will operate twice daily services on weekdays and daily at weekends to both destinations.

Dublin flights will cost €119 return and passengers will fly on 50-seater Fokker 50 aircraft.

Meanwhile, British Airways is about to start flights from Heathrow to the Greek islands of Mykonos and Santorini.