Figures released in yesterday’s CSO Household Travel Survey show that Irish residents took 1.5m outbound trips in the first quarter of 2016.

This is an increase of 12.8% compared to the same period last year.

Almost half of all trips were classified as holidays, while another quarter were visiting friends or relatives.

Further figures revealed Irish people spend €1.2bn on outbound trips which breaks down to €631m on overseas holidays, €289.5m on business trips and €169m on visiting friends and relatives.

Spain and the UK were the most popular destinations in terms of trips.

President of the Irish Travel Agents Association Cormac Meehan said these figures are very reassuring: “It is fantastic to see Irish holidaymakers spending over €600 million on overseas holidays in first quarter of 2016.

“We knew the travel trade was continuing to prosper but it is reassuring to see the CSO figures correlate with our own figures. 

“The ITAA’s recent Quarterly Survey showed that 50% of Irish travel agents have seen an increase in bookings compared to the same period in 2015.”