THE AVERAGE IRISH tourist is willing to spend more on accommodation when they travel abroad than when they travel within Ireland, data from an accommodation website has shown.
Figures compiled by Hotels.com show that the average Irish traveller pays €115 for a room while travelling abroad – but that when they were travelling within Ireland, the average spend fell to €85.
The figures, which compare spending records of people in 29 countries, show that Ireland is among the countries with the largest gap between the amounts that travellers spend when staying domestically or going abroad.
Chinese travellers had the highest gap – spending an average of €132 per night on accommodation when they travel abroad, but only €81 when they stay domestically.
Argentinian tourists spend €125 while abroad but €83 at home, while Indian tourists spend €69 at home but an average of €110 when outside their own country.
Eight of the 29 countries showed that travellers were likely to spend more highly at home than abroad – with Singapore showing the biggest gap, with €146 a night at home but only €112 while away.
Those eight countries are among those which are known as being the most expensive in the world, however: others are Switzerland, Norway, South Korea and Hong Kong.
This suggests that the reason why travellers spend more abroad than at home is because of the price of travelling domestically – with Irish hotels having become significantly cheaper in recent years as a result of intense competition in the accommodation market.
The figures may also be influenced by business travel, with domestic business travellers looking to cut costs where possible, while leisure tourists could be more willing to splash out while on vacation.
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