Co Kerry has been named as Ireland’s best holiday destination after a study of the spending habits of stay-cationers.
The covid pandemic and the related travel restrictions led to many Irish people choosing to take their breaks in this country over the past year.
Allied Irish Banks studied the data of their spending habits and have reported that Co Kerry has taken over from Galway as our favourite holiday destination.
Kerry is home to several great attractions, particularly is beautiful landscapes and scenery is your thing.
The Dingle Peninsular is packed with fantastic walking and cycling trails, and the Atlantic coast is also a great spot for watersports, fishing and wildlife.
The local community is packed with great pubs, restaurants and people and all visitors are made to feel welcome and comfortable in their surroundings.
Allied Banks revealed that there were more than 55 million card transactions registered in Kerry in the month of August alone.
The visitors came from all across Ireland but the most common tourists in Kerry were from Dublin, Cork and Limerick.
John Brennan of AIB said: “We’ve seen steady increase in spending by consumers across hotels, pubs and restaurants since hospitality reopened.
“Kerry was the place where the most consumers were spending money on hotels, pipping Galway and Cork to become Ireland’s top holiday destination this year.”
Elsewhere in the report it was revealed that Kerry residents prefer to leave their county for a break, with the most popular destination a short trip to neighbouring Co Cork.