The AIB Spend Trend features one of the most comprehensive and accurate data sets on consumer spending in Ireland. Data was compiled from AIB debit and credit card spending from just under 55 million transactions between August 1 and 31. To account for the difference in the number of days in each month the AIB Spend Trend looks at average daily spend instead of total monthly spend, providing an accurate reflection of consumer spending habits.
Kerry was the top spot for domestic summer holidays this year, with Irish consumers choosing the Kingdom as their destination of choice over Galway and Cork, the second and third most popular choices. Last year Cork was the country’s most popular destination for Irish visitors, followed by Kerry.
The hotel spend data for the summer months of June, July and August revealed that Kerry was the top destination for visitors from the majority of counties each month. Other popular destinations for Irish people this summer included Donegal and Dublin.
When it came to where in Ireland people preferred to holiday this summer, the data revealed that
· Those from Cork, Dublin and Limerick choose Kerry as their holiday destination of choice this year. Those from Kerry chose their top destination - Cork.
· Those from Waterford chose Cork as their top destination of choice this year, while those from Galway chose Dublin as their top destination of choice.
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. In July and June, the majority of hotel spend from those in Mayo was in Kerry hotels.
John Brennan, head of SME banking at AIB said: ”Since the hospitality sector reopened a few months ago, we have seen a steady increase in spending by consumers across hotels, pubs and restaurants. 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. 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.”
Overall, consumer spending in August was down 1.5 per cent on July, with contactless and chip and pin spend both down 5 per cent respectively. However, online spending during August was up 4 per cent, bucking The AIB Spend Trend features one of the most comprehensive and accurate data sets on consumer spending in Ireland. Data was compiled from AIB debit and credit card spending from just under 55 million transactions between August 1 and 31. To account for the difference in the number of days in each month the AIB Spend Trend looks at average daily spend instead of total monthly spend, providing an accurate reflection of consumer spending habits.he trend for the month.
The busiest day for consumer spending was Friday August 27 – pay day for many - with consumers spending €8 million an hour throughout the day. Meanwhile the quietest day for spending was Sunday August 22 when consumers spent an average of €4 million an hour throughout the day.
Spending among all age groups was down during August, with the exception of under 25s where spending rose 4 per cent on July. The biggest decrease came from those over 65 where spending was down 4 per cent month on month.
