AIB : Hospitality spending continues to rise in July as sector reopens further – AIB Spend Trend

A5G.IR

15th August 2021

Hospitality spending continues to rise in July as sector reopens further - AIB Spend Trend

Spending in the hospitality sector rose again in July as it continued to reopen to include indoor dining for those who are fully vaccinated. Spending was up 30% in hotels, 28% in pubs and 10% in restaurants. Meanwhile, spending on airline tickets was up 19% as people started to travel internationally again.

Meanwhile, spending in the retail sector was down on the previous month with spending in clothing stores down 8%, in electronic stores down 2% and in homewares stores it down 9%.

Consumers spent an average of €395,000 an hour* in pubs and restaurants throughout July as the good weather and further reopening helped increase consumer spending.

Those from the border counties recorded the biggest increase in restaurant spending during July, with consumers from Donegal, Monaghan and Leitrim reporting a 15% increase on June, while those from Cavan reported a 14% increase.

Speaking about the data, John Brennan, Head of SME Banking at AIB said: "The good weather in July, combined with the reopening and increased roll out of the vaccine has seen consumer spending in the hospitality sector continue to rise for another month which is positive to see. Despite the return of international travel in July, consumers spent 30% more on hotels than the previous month indicating many are still opting to stay in Ireland for their holiday this year - a positive development for businesses right across the country."

July Overview

Overall, consumer spending continued to rise in July, up 1% on June as the hospitality sector opened further. Card usage also continued to rise with chip and pin usage up 1%, contactless up 2% and digital wallet payments up 6%. Meanwhile, e-commerce spending was down almost 1% on July as people opted for spending their money in-store.

The busiest day for spending in July was the 30th, the Friday after indoor dining opening, with consumers spending over €8 million an hour in shops and businesses*. The quietest day for consumer spending in July was Sunday 18th July.

On Monday 26th July when indoor hospitality reopened consumers spent more than €6 million euro an hour throughout the day* in shops and businesses.

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Spending across other sectors during July was as follows:

Sector

Increase / Decrease (on June)

Airline

+19%

Clothing

-8%

Drinking Places (Pubs & Off-Licences)

+28%

Electronics

-2%

Groceries

-1%

Hardware

-10%

Health & Beauty

-3%

Homewares

-9%

Hotels

+30%

Restaurants

+10%

The AIB Spend Trend features one of the most comprehensive and accurate data sets on consumer spending in Ireland. Data was compiled from AIB Debit and Credit card spending from over 56million transactions between the 1st and 31st July 2021. To account for the difference in the number of days in each month the AIB Spend Trend looks at average daily spend instead of total monthly spend, providing an accurate reflection of consumer spending habits.

ENDS

Further Information: Graham Union

[email protected](085) 208 8343

Notes to Editor:

*Based on total spending for the day over 12 hours of being opened (9AM-9PM)

County By County Increase/Decrease in Pub/Restaurant/Hotel Spending

County

Pubs

Restaurants

Hotels

Carlow

+33%

+8%

+43%

Cavan

+34%

+14%

+37%

Clare

+32%

+8%

+29%

Cork

+32%

+12%

+31%

Donegal

+33%

+15%

+41%

Dublin

+22%

+7%

+26%

Galway

+30%

+10%

+22%

Kerry

+26%

+12%

+26%

Kildare

+26%

+10%

+33%

Kilkenny

+33%

+15%

+44%

Laois

+32%

+12%

+36%

Leitrim

+19%

+15%

+30%

Limerick

+33%

+10%

+30%

Longford

+29%

+10%

+45%

Louth

+24%

+11%

+55%

Mayo

+34%

+11%

+26%

Meath

+29%

+12%

+35%

Monaghan

+56%

+15%

+59%

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Offaly

+27%

+9%

+41%

Roscommon

+31%

+9%

+41%

Sligo

+22%

+12%

+32%

Tipperary

+32%

+9%

+37%

Waterford

+37%

+14%

+33%

Westmeath

+25%

+10%

+40%

Wexford

+32%

+12%

+27%

Wicklow

+32%

+11%

+30%

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Disclaimer

AIB Group plc published this content on 27 August 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 27 August 2021 13:51:04 UTC.