Recent good weather has seen pubs, restaurants and hotels enjoy a bumper spend by consumers, with almost €300million splashed out last month. After Ireland enjoyed the hottest May on record, spending jumped by 10% for pubs, 6% for restaurants and 5% for hotels, compared to the same month last year. That contrasted with significant decreases of up to 12% last year compared to 2022 spending.
Pub patrons in Leitrim made the most of the good weather, with spending up 20%, followed by Westmeath (up 18%), and Kilkenny (up 16%). For restaurants, the biggest increase in spend was in Kilkenny (up 9%), then Mayo and Waterford (up 8%). People from Longford saw the biggest increase in spend on hotels (up 18%) followed by Offaly (up 11%) and Wexford (up 10%).
The monthly data was compiled from around 75 million debit and credit card transactions in the month of May. The bank found that people’s average daily spend increased by 4% overall, compared to a 1% increase in May 2023. Westmeath had the highest increase (up 5%) while Sligo had the lowest (up 2%).
The overall amount spent on clothing increased by 8%, with the biggest increase in Carlow and Louth (both up 12%) and in Westmeath (up 11%). And in a sign of growing environmental awareness, spending on electric vehicle charging increased by 107% compared to May 2023, while the amount spent in bike shops also increased by 6% month on month. The spend on groceries, health and beauty and hardware increased by 5%, and homewares spending .
