Businesses in the hospitality sector recorded a surge in spending on St Patrick's Day, according to new data from AIB.
Hotels had their busiest day on 17 March, recording over 50,000 transactions throughout the day as people enjoyed the national holiday.
Meanwhile, pubs recorded 345,000 transactions on the day, compared with only 28,000 transactions on the quietest day of the month, 21 March.
While restaurants did record a surge in spending on St Patrick’s Day, the data shows that their busiest day of the month was 26 March, the day after pay day for many workers across the country.
The data was compiled from over one million card transactions by Irish consumers during March 2022 and has been anonymised and aggregated.
Overall, spending was up 2% in March compared to the previous month, as consumers spent €80 million euro a day throughout the month of March.
Meanwhile, digital wallet payments were up 8%, as consumers spent almost €10 million a day using the technology, or one in every eight euro spent during the month.
The figures also show that online spending dropped by 1% in March compared to February, as people continue to return to physical stores.
Airline spend was down 10% in the month, having reached a high in January, while spend on clothes, hardware, homeware, and health and beauty were all up.
"For the first time in two years we were able to celebrate St Patrick's Day in person as is evident by consumer spending across the hospitality sector on the day.
"The hotel and pub trades recorded their busiest day of the month as consumers flocked to enjoy the national holiday with family and friends," said John Brennan, Head of SME Banking at AIB.
