Irish spending on both foreign and domestic travel fell in the second quarter of 2009, reflecting the severe downturn in the economy.

The CSO said in its Household Travel Survey, which it published today, that spending on foreign travel was almost €1.6bn in the quarter - - down some 12.3% on the same quarter in 2008.

The statistics office said it should be noted when comparing Q2 2009 and Q2 2008 that Easter occurred wholly in the first quarter of 2008 compared to the second quarter in 2009.

Expenditure on domestic holidays was down by 2.4% to €314.4m, while just over 17% less was spent on visiting friends and relatives at €164.8m.

Business travellers slashed spending on foreign trips by just over 30% to €165.9m.

The number of domestic trips taken by Irish residents increased by 9.4% to 2,042,000 in Q2 2009 compared to Q2 2008.

Holiday expenditure was down almost 8% to €197.9m while spending on business travel fell by nearly one third to €24.4m. In addition, travellers spent almost 20% less, at €33.8m, on visiting friends and relatives. In total, spending on domestic travel was down 5.9% to €570.7m for the first half of 2009 from the same period in 2008.

Foreign trips taken by Irish residents declined by 6.5% to 1,927,000 in Q2 2009 compared to Q2 2008. Holiday trips fell by 15% to 1,227,000 while those for business purposes were down 5.3% to 161,000. The
extent of travel visiting friends and relatives fell very marginally. In total, foreign trips were down by 8.7% to 3,524,000 in the first half of 2009 compared to a year earlier.

Total expenditure on foreign travel amounted to €1,577.2m in Q2 2009, down 12.3% from Q2 2008. Expenditure on holidays was down 14.3% to €1,096.8m