THE NUMBER of trips abroad by Irish residents continued to fall last year, while domestic trips increased.
The Household Travel Survey, published by the Central Statistics Office yesterday, showed that 6.6 million overseas trips were taken by Irish residents in 2011, a fall of 5.2 per cent on the previous year.
The majority of overseas visits were to countries within the EU. The UK remained the most popular destination, accounting for 2.4 million visits in 2011.
A total of €5.48 billion was spent by Irish residents on overseas travel in 2011, of which €3.1 billion was spent on holidays, €1.09 billion on visiting friends or relatives, and €711 million on business trips.
Irish residents took almost nine million domestic trips last year, an increase of 4.4 per cent on the previous year. Domestic trips were worth €1.8 billion to the Irish economy in 2011.
