Kerry has beat out Galway and Cork to become Ireland’s most popular domestic holiday destination this summer, according to spending data from AIB.
The bank’s latest Spend Trend report found Galway and Cork were the second and third most popular staycation destinations respectively, with Cork falling from the top spot in 2020.
Hotel spend data for the summer months of June, July and August revealed those from Cork, Dublin and Limerick chose Kerry as their holiday destination of choice, while those from Kerry and Waterford chose Cork. Other popular destinations included Donegal and Dublin.
Kerry was the place where the most consumers were spending money on hotels
During August, those from Mayo spent the most in Dublin hotels – the same month both counties clashed in the All-Ireland semi-final in Croke Park.
John Brennan, head of SME Banking at AIB, said there has been a “steady increase” in spending by consumers across hotels, pubs and restaurants since the hospitality sector reopened a few months ago.
“As is evident by our Spend Trend report this month, Kerry was the place where the most consumers were spending money on hotels – pipping Galway and Cork to become Ireland’s top holiday destination this year,” he said.
“Elsewhere, we saw overall spend decrease this month when compared with July, with consumer goods sectors such as clothing, health and beauty and electronics all down.”
August spending
Overall, consumer spending in August was down 1.5 per cent on July, with contactless and chip and pin spend both down five per cent respectively. However, online spending during August was up four per cent, bucking the trend for the month.
Spending on the airline sector also saw a continued increase last month, up 39 per cent on July.
AIB said the busiest day for consumer spending was Friday August 27th, with consumers spending €8 million an hour throughout the day. Meanwhile, the quietest day for spending was Sunday August 22nd, where consumers spent an average of €4 million an hour.
Spending among all age groups was down in August, with the exception of under-25s where spending rose four per cent on July. The biggest decrease came from those over 65, where spending was down four per cent month on month.
AIB’s Spend Trend compiles data from AIB Debit and Credit card spending from just under 55 million transactions between August 1st and 31st.
