News

Kerry `All Ireland favourite' (for holidays)

Killarney, Co Kerry is among Ireland's favourite holiday destinations
Killarney, Co Kerry is among Ireland's favourite holiday destinations Killarney, Co Kerry is among Ireland's favourite holiday destinations

KERRY go into next week's semi-final as All-Ireland favourites - when it comes to holiday destinations anyway.

The Kingdom has been crowned favourite domestic holiday choice for Irish holiday makers for the third year in a row, while Tyrone was among three counties who failed to attract a single vote.

One in four people plumped for Kerry, with Galway claiming second place and Cork in third.

More than 5,000 people took part in the survey carried out by property website MyHome.ie.

While Wexford and Clare both saw their support rise, Donegal dropped to sixth place overall and Kilkenny and Waterford both saw a "significant drop" in popularity, despite still being in the top 10.

When it comes to actual holidays, the gap between the top counties was much closer, with just 4 per cent separating the top three.

By this measure, Antrim proved to be as popular as Tipperary.

However, not a single person questioned said they were choosing to holiday in Tyrone, Derry or Down, while Armagh and Fermanagh were in joint second last, suggesting it's a grim time for the hospitality industry `up north'.

This is partly explained by the weak Euro.

Angela Keegan of MyHome.ie, said an interesting trend it has seen is "the move towards more activity focused holidays so counties which have more to offer in this respect will clearly perform well".

"With the weak Euro acting as a disincentive to travel outside the Eurozone Irish people were probably more inclined to opt for a 'staycation' this year which is good news for the domestic tourism market," she said.

"We are seeing a marked increase in traffic to our holiday rental section as people opt for a late summer or autumnal break and this bodes well for the sector overall."