Increase in December outbound tourism

There were 39,854 outbound tourist trips last December, a 13.2% increase from the corresponding month in 2012, according to the National Statistics Office.

Over half of outbound tourists were male (53.8%) and aged between 25 and 44.

The United Kingdom and Italy remained the most popular destinations, accounting for 58.9% of all trips, although all European countries - with the exception of France - recorded increases from December 2012. Travel to non-EU countries grew by 2.6%.

Between January and December 2013, a total of 363,463 outbound trips were made, the majority of which were for holiday reasons. 17.5% of travel was for business or professional purposes.

Non-package travel was significantly higher than package travel and accounted for €116.4 million (€51 per night) as opposed to the €58.0 million (€103 per night) spend by package travellers.