THE BORDER REGIONS of Louth and Monaghan are Ireland’s least-popular destinations for domestic travel – with holidaymakers instead favouring long trips in Kerry and Clare or short stays in Dublin.
Central Statistics Office household travel survey figures have revealed the two border counties had the lowest number of domestic trips for any region last year.
There were only 129,000 trips to Louth and Monaghan combined, compared to 1.34 million journeys to Dublin and 740,000 visits to Cork.
Counties Laois and Offaly were the second least-favoured destinations among Irish travellers, drawing 146,000 trips for an average stay of two nights.
Visitors also spent less time than average in Louth and Monaghan, staying an average of 2.1 nights, although that was longer than the standard stays in counties Kildare and Carlow, where travellers averaged only 1.8 nights.
The longest stays were in Kerry and Clare, where visitors spend 4.2 nights on average.
Travel is up… here and overseas
Overall, the latest figures showed Irish residents took more trips both at home and abroad between April and June this year than in 2013.
Locals took nearly 1.8 million domestic trips, up 5.2% on the same time last year, with the average stay lasting 2.6 nights.
Nearly half of the trips were classed as holidays, while almost one third were earmarked as for visiting friends or relatives.
Irish residents also enjoyed about 1.8 million overseas visits, an increase of 1.8% on the same period in 2013, with an average trip lasting 7.3 nights.
The UK remained the most popular destination for Irish people heading abroad with 596,000 trips for the quarter, followed by Spain and France.
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