trivago Reveals 2017 Summer Travel Trends for Ireland
In preparation for the busy summer season, we've analysed trivago data to identify the biggest summer travel trends for Ireland. These insights into traveller search behaviour reveal where visitors to Ireland are coming from, which cities they're going to, how long they'll stay and how much they'll pay this summer.
The following information relates to searches for stays of three nights or more, between 1 June and 31 August 2017.
Where will visitors to Ireland be from this summer?
Based on search volumes for destinations in Ireland, residents from the United Kingdom will make up the largest group of travellers from one country making their way to the Emerald Isle this summer. They'll also exceed the number of Irish nationals travelling domestically.
UK travellers account for 61% of international visitors to Ireland, followed by travellers from Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, the Netherlands, France, Austria and Finland.
The top 10 visiting countries account for approximately 93% of all searches from overseas generated for destinations in Ireland.
What will be the most popular destinations for summer travel?
Dublin is, predictably, the most sought-after destination in Ireland for both international visitors and domestic travellers. In fact, there's little variation between the top destinations for the two groups. The exceptions are Limerick City and Sligo Town, which make the top 10 cities for international visitors, and Wexford and Waterford, which rank higher for domestic travellers.
Across the international markets, Galway, Cork and Killarney are locked in a tight three-way popularity battle, their rankings varying between second, third and fourth place for the different markets. Their overall positions are influenced heavily by their popularity among UK travellers.
What does the data reveal about traveller behaviour ?
Along with where travellers come from, our search data also reveals when travellers prefer to travel, how long they'll stay and how much they'll spend on average.
The search behaviours of both the Irish and the international travellers from the top visiting countries are seen in their searches for destinations worldwide, and are illustrated below.
The most popular weeks to travel for the different markets are spread out evenly across the summer season. However, the highest volume of searches by travellers from both Ireland and the top 10 visiting markets is for dates that occur mid-season during the weeks beginning 31 July and 7 August.
Searches by domestic travellers, as well as by visitors from Germany, the UK, the US and Finland, peak for dates that fall in the first two weeks of summer. Visitors from the Netherlands, Italy, France and Spain, on the other hand, opt for the busiest weeks.
For those destinations in Ireland with the highest demand, the average clicked per-night prices exceed the global market average. Average Dublin prices are from €18 to €48 higher than the global market average for domestic travellers and all travellers from the top 10 visiting countries, with visitors from Austria, the UK and the Netherlands clicking on the highest prices. Average clicked prices for Galway and Killarney also exceed the global average clicked prices for several countries.
Irish residents and visitors from Italy and France search for the longest stays — eight nights on average. Travellers from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Austria all search for seven nights on average.
Irish hoteliers looking to capitalise on one of the busiest travel periods in the year can use summer travel trends to craft a targeted and effective hotel marketing strategy. Use all your online channels to highlight your hotel's unique summer appeal and drive bookings. Start by updating your hotel profile with summer-specific images, descriptions and details with trivago Hotel Manager.
About the data:
Travel period: 1 June – 31 August 2017
Search period: 1 January – 5 April 2017
Includes searches for stays of 3+ days
Searches include those where the traveller made at least one click-out to a hotel
Searches include those to specific cities as destinations. Searches to region or country are excluded.
View this article on the trivago Hotel Manager blog.
Andrea Ricciarelli
Global B2B Content Marketing & Global PR Lead
trivago
