Irish people can’t leave the country quick enough - as the numbers seeking flights out of the country has soared.
Number crunchers have trawled data on our spending habits in recent weeks and found that airline travel spending jumped by almost a quarter in May.
But while we’re all desperate to leave, the stats reveal grim news for Irish hotels, restaurants and pubs.
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Spending in hospitality at home has dropped - which is bad news for tourism industry here.
Consumer spending on airline travel during the month of May rose 24% following the lifting of international travel restrictions.
Meanwhile, the domestic hospitality sector saw spending fall in hotels (-8%) and in pubs (-2%) while spending in restaurants stalled (+0.3%).
With over €15 million more spent on airline travel in May than the month before, airline travel spending has seen a 268% increase when compared to May 2021 and a 1,102% increase when compared to the height of Covid-19 restrictions in May 2020.
The data was compiled by AIB from over one million card transactions by Irish consumers during May 2022.
Overall, spending was up 4% in May compared to the previous month as consumers spent almost €84 million a day throughout the month of May.
Digital Wallet payments were up 7% as consumers spent over €11 million a day using the technology, or one in every eight euro spent during the month.
May 27, the day after pay day for most people, was the busiest day of the month for consumer spending.
Electronics and groceries spend remained flat at +0.6% and +0.47%, respectively, while clothing (+6%), hardware (+3%), homewares (+6%) and health & beauty (+7%) were all up.
AIB Head of SME Banking, John Brennan, said: “As we enter the first summer with significantly reduced restrictions on travel, we are seeing Irish consumers take advantage of this opportunity.
“The hotel and pub trades saw a decrease in spending in May, but it should be noted that this reduction was expected since the Easter break, which drives domestic demand, fell on the previous month.
“Spend in these sectors is still multiple times higher than it was during this time in 2021.
“Separately, overall consumer spending was up 4% in May as consumer spending remains steady, with digital wallet payments up 7%.
“That’s showing how increasingly popular the cashless payment method is becoming with consumers now spending over €11 million euro a day by tapping their phones.
“This is equivalent to one in every eight euro during the month being spent via a digital wallet.”
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