THREE IN TEN Irish people plan on travelling in the next three months, according to a new survey.
Recent findings from a survey conducted by Finder.com, a comparison site, show that 29% of Irish adults, or an estimated 1.1 million people, plan on travelling over the next three summer months.
This has almost doubled since another Finder survey from February, when 15% of Irish adults planned on travelling over the following three months.
Irish adults are most interested in travelling during June, with 14% saying they will either travel abroad or domestically. In July, 9% plan to travel, and 12% are expected to travel in August.
In June, most Irish adults plan on travelling internally, at 12%.
55-64 year-olds are the age group with the highest percentage of expectant domestic travelling, coming in at 15.38%.
Within each age bracket, domestic travel was the most popular option.
Angela Noonan, the owner of a holiday home in Waterville, Kerry, said her business this summer is just as good this year as previous years.
“But obviously the main difference is that there are no stayers from abroad,” she said. “It’s all Irish families coming for a stay-cation.”
Amanda Glynn is planning on spending some time in August by renting a boat and holidaying up the River Shannon. Having had previous holidays cancelled over the past year, she and her family wanted to do a staycation that wasn’t too at risk from restrictions.
“We wanted to do something where we wouldn’t need to rely on restaurants,” she said. “Hopefully they’ll all be open in August, but we can eat on the boat after buying food from the shops and we aren’t interacting with too many people either.”
Ireland now ranks in the top ten countries for those planning to travel during the summer months, coming in at 8th place. This is up from 17th place following the February survey.
The survey found that planning trips well in advance have become a thing of the past as in the majority of the 19 countries surveyed, “travel is at its highest in the month immediately following the survey.”
“The pending announcement this week from the government on what restrictions will look like over the coming months will help many people in Ireland have a better understanding of what they’ll be able to do this summer for both domestic and international travel,” said senior writer at Finder, James Martin.
One in ten Irish adults is planning to travel internationally. However, most (6%) plan on going abroad in August.
Currently, there is a government advisory against all non-essential international travel.
It’s uncertain as to when the government and NPHET will give the green light for travelling abroad.
CEO of the Irish Travel Agents Association, Pat Dawson, said that regarding international travel, there’s no one clear direction from the government.
“The safety of our customers is very, very important,” he said. “But as of now, travel agents will not take bookings for August, because of the uncertainty.”
He said travel agents will not be taking money from holiday-makers unless they are certain the holiday will go ahead or there will be a 100% refund.
Earlier this month, the Taoiseach said that Ireland will be taking part in the EU’s Digital Green Certificate. This will show digital proof that a person has either been vaccinated against Covid-19, recovered from Covid-19 or has tested negative for the virus.
The Green Cert will allow free travel between all EU member states.
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