Most Irish see UK as ‘risky’ holiday spot

MORE than nine out of ten Irish people think there’s a risk of terrorist attacks when travelling to Britain, while two thirds say fear of terrorism influences their holiday choices, a survey shows.

Despite the survey’s findings, Britain is the second most popular destination after Spain for Irish people.

The results also indicate that, in spite of our fears, we still love to travel, and most people are planning two holidays in 2018.

Trips to Britain were up from 526,000 for the July-September period last year to 543,000 this year – an extra 17,000.

France was considered the country most at risk from terrorism according to 96% of respondents of the 123.ie Travel Survey, followed by the UK and Belgium, both 94%.

Germany was also considered a risky choice by 89%, while Turkey fell down the rankings, dropping from 91% in 2016 to 73% in the 2017 survey. But travel to France, Belgium and Germany were all up – France by 33,000, and Germany by 10,000 for the summer period between 2016 and 2017.

Travel to Belgium was up from 125,000 for the whole of 2015 to 134,000 for 2016.

Padraig O’Neill, head of marketing at 123. ie, said: ‘Following a number of terror attacks in the UK this year, it’s completely understandable that people view it as a much riskier destination than in 2016.

‘However, as one in five still selected it as their top holiday destination, and over half [53%] would take advantage of the euro’s current strength against the pound, we don’t expect leisure travel to the UK from Ireland to be negatively impacted in 2018.’

The survey indicates most people are planning two holidays in 2018. Mr O’Neill said: ‘94% of people selected a holiday abroad over destinations around Ireland.’

Meanwhile, Galway topped the poll as the favourite Irish holiday spot.