Economic uncertainty has failed to quench people's thirst for travelling overseas with new figures showing that the number of trips taken abroad in August rose by 3.7 per cent year-on-year.
The latest data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) reveal that 845,600 overseas trips were taken during the month, compared to 815,700 in August 2007.
So far this year, 5,515,3000 overseas trips have been made by Irish residents, up 5.1 per cent for the same eight month period a year ago.
However, the rate of growth has declined from the 12.2 per cent rate recorded for the same period between 2006 and 2007 when the number of visits overseas shot up from 4,679,800 to 5,248,400.
Meanwhile, the number of overseas visits to Ireland fell by 2 per cent to 946,300 in August compared to a year ago, according to the figures released today.
Visits to Ireland by residents of Great Britain grew by 3.5 per cent to 488,400 during the month while trips from US citizens fell by 10.7 per cent to 118,200. Visits to the country from other European countries fell by 7.5 per cent during the month while trips from other regions grew 13.1 per cent to 43,100.
Overall, a total of 5,483,300 trips have been taken to Ireland so far in 2008 which is marginally less than the same eight month period a year ago. This contrasts with a growth rate of just over 4 per cent in the same period between 2007 and 2006.
