Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 December 2004
80 Ms O’Sullivan asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the number of Irish people holidaying at home in 2004 for the latest period for which figures are available; the way in which these compare with the same period in 2003. [31420/04]
View answerThe Central Statistics Office, CSO, which does not come under the aegis of my Department, is responsible for the collection and publication of official statistics on holiday trips in the domestic market, which continues to provide good year-round business and is particularly important in the context of a volatile overseas marketplace.
I understand that the latest estimates available from the CSO household travel survey for the period January to June 2004 show: total domestic holiday trips at 1.3 million, up 8.5% on the same period in 2003; expenditure on domestic holidays up 9% to €227 million over the same period; short domestic holidays or breaks involving stays of one to three nights up 6% to just under 1 million trips; longer holidays of four or more nights up 18% to 312,000; and total nights on domestic holidays up 8% to 4 million nights.
