Official figures show that Irish people spent less on domestic travel in the first three months of this year than in the same period a year earlier.
The Central Statistics Office said Irish residents spent €284.2m on domestic trips in the period, down slightly from €288.9m a year earlier.
But spending on international trips grew by 17% to just under €1.6 billion, with particularly strong growth of 21% in holiday spending. The number of international trips rose by almost 14% to 1.8 million. The number of trips to Asia and the Middle East jumped by 71% compared with a year earlier.
At home, while spending on holidays grew by 8.5% to €181m, this was outweighed by lower spending on business trips and visits to friends and relatives.
The total number of domestic trips rose by 17.2% to 1.85 million. The number of nights spent on holidays at home grew by just under 20%, while nights spent visiting friends and relatives rose by almost 25%. The number of nights spent on business trips dropped by almost 11%, however.
The CSO points out that the figures may have been affected by the earlier Easter this year.
