Study shows decline in B&Bs

The supply of traditional bed-and-breakfast accommodation in Ireland fell by 23 per cent between 2001 and 2005, figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.

Holiday homes at the Links on Achill Island, Co Mayo

During the same period the number of four-star hotels in the State grew by 41 per cent reflecting changing nature of Irish tourism.

According to the CSO's Domestic Tourism in Ireland 2000-2005report, the supply of B&B beds available fell by 21 per cent.

But while the number of registered guesthouses fell by 7 per cent, the supply of guesthouse beds increased by 2 per cent despite the drop in premises.

The report found the number one and two-star hotels declined by 34 per cent and 6 per cent respectively during the period.

The figures also evidenced the boom in holiday homes in Ireland. Domestic nights spent in owned holiday homes more than doubled between 2000 and 2005, growing from just under 1.1 million nights in 2000 to almost 2.2 million nights in 2005.

The number of registered self-catering premises increased by 27 per cent with the growth being most pronounced in the south-west region, where the supply of premises grew by 58 per cent.

The report assessed the importance of domestic tourism - as distinct from foreign tourists coming to Ireland or Irish tourists travelling abroad - to the overall tourism market in Ireland

It found that during the five-year period some 39 million domestic trips involving an overnight stay away from home were taken and almost 139 million domestic nights were spent away from home.

The annual number of domestic trips grew from just under 5.5 million in 2000 to almost 7.2 million in 2005 which represented a growth of almost 1.7 million trips or 31 per cent.

Nights spent away from home grew by 19 per cent or almost 4 million nights, rising from 20.7 million in 2000 to just over 24.6 million in 2005.

The CSO said the average number of domestic trips taken per head of population increased from 1.4 in 2000 to 1.7 in 2005.

Of the 39 million domestic trips taken during the period, almost 31 million or almost 80 per cent were taken for recreational purposes with 45 per cent these considered to be holidays by the participants.

73 per cent of all domestic trips consisted of short breaks of between one and three days, representing a 40 per cent increase whereas the number of longer trips ( four nights or more) taken grew by 9 per cent.

The south-west was the most visited region between 2000 and 2005, attracting 8.5 million trips or almost 22 per cent of all trips taken.

Almost 35 million nights were spent in the region, accounting for 25 per cent of all domestic tourism nights spent in the country.

Dublin was the most visited county, attracting 5.3 million trips, followed by Cork (4.5 million), Galway (4.5 million), Kerry (4 million) and Wexford (2.8 million).