All-Ireland Senior Championship series finals boost July spend
While pub spend for July was down, (except from counties involved in the All Ireland finals), restaurant spend was up 10% and the amount of money spent in Irish hotels was up 3%.
AIB’s Cork customers spent €920,000 in Dublin on 5 July, the day of their county team’s convincing All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship semi-final victory over Dublin, the latest AIB Spend Trend for July reveals. However, on 20 July, the day The Rebel County lost to Tipperary in the final, disappointed Cork fans spent 13% less in the capital than they had on the day of their team’s semi-final triumph. In contrast, jubilant Tipperary fans spent 27% more on the day their team claimed the Liam MacCarthy Cup in the 20 July final, than they had on the day of their resounding semi-final win over Kilkenny on 6 July. And while Kerry may have won the Sam Maguire Cup, Donegal fans spent 12% more in Dublin than the Kerry fans did the day the two teams faced off in All Ireland Senior Football Final on 27 July.
Overall, the AIB Spend Trend data shows that spend in July 2025 was up 9% on the same month in 2024. Online spend has been growing more strongly (up 14%) than instore spend (up 4%) over the 12 months. The average in store transaction was €28.80 compared to €96.90 for the average online transaction.
Groceries was one of few sectors where in-store spend held up strongly, with spending 6% higher overall and 93% of those purchases made in stores rather than online. In contrast, the spend on clothing rose just 1% in July compared to the same month a year ago, below the rate of inflation. Department stores saw expenditure fall by -1% in the 12 months to the end of July.
July is traditionally peak tourist season, but the picture for the domestic hospitality sector was mixed. Spend in pubs in Ireland was down -9% compared to July 2024, with the biggest falls recorded in Wicklow (-19.6%), Dublin (-17.2%) and Clare (-11.1%), and the biggest increases in Kerry (11.6%), Donegal (6.7%) and Tipperary (3.4%) – all counties which were involved in the All-Ireland Senior Championship finals. Restaurant spend, on the other hand, was up 10% and the amount of money spent in Irish hotels was up 3%.
The data was compiled from 78 million card transactions carried out by AIB customers in store and online during July 2025 and has been anonymised and aggregated. Data provided by AIB features one of the most comprehensive and accurate data sets on consumer spending in Ireland.
Speaking about the data, Adrian Moynihan, Head of Consumer at AIB said: “July’s AIB Spend Trend report reflects the busy month that July was, with many people out and about enjoying the fine weather, the peak tourist season kicking off and a range of high-profile sporting and cultural events taking place.
“It also highlights the resilience of consumer confidence, with overall spending up 9% year-on-year. Notably, online spending has surged by 14%, outpacing the 4% increase in in-store transactions.
“While the hospitality sector experienced mixed results, with pub spending down but restaurant and hotel spending up, the data underscores the dynamic nature of consumer behaviour during the peak tourist season.”
