Irish people spent 1.36bn abroad using Visa cards – debit, credit and prepaid – in 2015, an 8% increase compared to the previous year, according to the latest data from Visa Europe.
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Visa attributed the growth to economic recovery and intense airline competition. On average, Irish Visa cardholders were spending 3.75m per day across the globe.
The majority of spending occurred during the summer, with more than 40% (548m) spent as tourists from Ireland take their holidays between June and September.
Additionally, the figures also show the surge in popularity of winter breaks, as overall spending across the months of October, November and December has increased on average 9% year-on-year.
There was a considerable increase in spending by Irish people in European destinations last year, with Spain (22% increase), Italy (25% increase), Germany (20% increase) and the Netherlands (30% increase) seeing the largest levels of growth.
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By GlobalDataSome factors such as increased access though new flight routes also saw Iceland to see a 97% increase in spending by Irish travellers.
The UK remains the most popular destination, by level of spending among Irish Visa cardholders, with 400.7m spent in 2015.
Visa Europe country manager of Ireland Philip Konopik said: “We saw a significant increase in spending by Irish Visa cardholders abroad last year, highlighting the growth in foreign travel as the economy recovers.
“We’ve benefited from this as tourists and business travellers are increasingly opting to use their cards instead of having to convert cash. As a result we have launched a new version of our Travel Tools app to help people locate the nearest ATM and check the level of card acceptance at their destination.”
