It may be noses to the grindstone right now, but a for a growing number of Leaving Cert students fun in the sun is only a few short weeks away.

Time was when the end of the exams was celebrated with a night out with the gang and that was it. Nowadays, for a lot of people, the end of school days and completion of the Leaving Cert is marked by a holiday abroad, with friends and, importantly, without parents. "It's been an emerging trend in the last couple of years," says Niamh Hayes, marketing manager of Budget Travel. "We were particularly aware of it last season." The most popular time for Leaving Cert students to take their holidays is just before the start of college - the last two weeks of August and the first two weeks of September, she says. Typically, groups of up to 10 youngsters travel together and stick together for a two-week sojourn in the sun.

"This year in particular I've noticed a lot of girls wearing school uniforms coming in and enquiring about holidays," says Keith Shanley, manager of Sunway Travel, Baggot Street, Dublin. "They've been coming in, making their enquiries and paying deposits. We have to ask their age and get a letter from their parents if they're under 18 ." Young people have very definite ideas about what they want to do on holiday. Gone are the days when adolescents yearned for adventure, the great outdoors or the opportunity to discover new and different cultures and ways of life.

Today's teenagers want glitzy resort holidays, with a non-stop social life and a nightly diet of clubbing and pubbing. Package holidays are the order of the day. Youngsters show little inclination to travel independently. "Young people want everything booked," Shanley says.

"We don't get as many seat-only bookings as we used to." The type of holiday that enthralled previous generations of youngsters - Greek-island hopping, for example - is passe. "They want plenty of nightlife, a reasonable price and they always ask `Is it safe?' " Students visiting Sunway's office are often unfamiliar with the foreign resorts, which are proving popular with teenagers.

In Tallaght, Co Dublin, however, youngsters are very clear about where they want to go. "Usually someone in the group has already visited the resort and is familiar with it," explains a Tallaght-based travel agent. Top choices for teenagers include Santa Ponsa in Majorca, Crete (especially Hersonnissos), Playa del Ingles on Gran Canaria and Ayia Napa in Cyprus. This year, Ibiza, formerly a major destination for Irish teenagers, has suffered a decline in bookings, according to travel agents. This is as a result of adverse publicity last year: revelations about live sex shows in Manumission, a major nightclub on the island, and the licentious behaviour of young British visitors have caused Irish parents to put their feet down.

"The kids would love to go, but their parents are saying `No'," one travel agent says. When it comes to holidays, Irish teenagers have no shortage of money. They're paying £450 to £500 for a fortnight's holiday abroad - they are, after all, travelling during the peak season. They usually share - four or five to a room. Bookings tend to be for single-sex groups.

Girls seem to outnumber the boys who are taking post-Leaving Cert vacations. According to one travel agent, the girls make their booking, the boys get to hear about it and follow suit.

Nobody would begrudge Leaving Cert students a well-earned break after their exams. Many people argue that the promise of a good holiday at the end of it all is a great incentive and encourages youngsters to study.

There are fears, however, that many youngsters are taking part-time jobs - during term time - to finance foreign frolics. And that's tantamount to committing academic suicide.

Schools say that, in many instances, it's youngsters from less well off families who are bent on the post-Leaving Cert trip abroad. "They don't have the stamina to put in a full day of study and combine it with a part-time job," observes Jean Geoghegan, principal of Chriost Ri school in Cork.

Many parents and educators worry that young people travelling abroad for the first time will come to harm. "I'd be concerned about the group dynamic that emerges," comments a guidance counsellor. "They're uncharted waters. A lot of the students are under 18 and they're going away with large sums of money. They have easy access to drink and drugs - anything could happen."

Despite the hype, though, not all teenagers are queueing up to go abroad. Between travel, spending money and new clothes, a foreign trip is likely to cost the best part of £1,000. According to Jean Geoghegan, many youngsters realise that such sums are best saved for college - for clothes, books and socialising.

Going abroad has become a rite of passage, she says, but only for a minority.