July sees 10% decrease in pub and off-licence spend but 7% boost for hotels

While Friday 26 July was the highest spend of the year to date in Irish hotels, pubs and off-licences didn't fare quite so well

The AIB July Spend Trend shows that Irish consumers were spending their cash at home and abroad this summer as hotel spend was up 7% in July and in the same month AIB recorded the most transactions on record for AIB customers in France.

July is traditionally a high-spending month for hotels, but July 2024 saw an increase of 7% from June, and was 4% up from July 2023.  However, pubs and restaurants did not fare as well with 10% decrease in pubs and off-licences and a 6% decrease in restaurants month-on-month. The decline in pubs and off-licence spend could be attributed to July having four weekends while June had five.

Friday 26 July was the highest spend of the year to date in hotels. The 35 to 44 year old group picked up the tab most in hotels, followed by 45 to 54-year-olds, and then 25 to 34 year olds.

The weather in Ireland in July was cooler and drier than the average July according to Met Eireann and Saturday 20 July saw the highest daily cinema spend of the year.  Despicable Me 4 and Twisters were enticing viewers in out of the cold.

Taking the cards to France

In July AIB customers took the cards to France as 45,000 customers made 597,000 transactions while in the country, the most they’ve seen in a month in France, including last year’s Rugby World Cup.  The top category of spend in France was restaurants followed by groceries. But for our customers from Laois holidaying in France it was the other way round: groceries followed by restaurants. July’s exodus of Irish holiday makers to French campsites was this year complemented by visitors for the Olympics.  For customers from both Cavan and Monaghan, their top spend category was restaurants, like most other counties, but for both counties, their second category was campgrounds.

Spend Trend July 2024 (all data points compared to the previous month, unless otherwise stated).

• Duty free stores had their best day of the year to date on Friday 5 July
• Retailers in the Uniforms and Commercial Clothing category also had their best day of the year so far on July 30
• Electronics spend up 3%, health and beauty up 2% for the month
• The best day of year to date for railways was Monday 1 July

Speaking about the data, Adrian Moynihan, head of Consumer at AIB said, “AIB’s July Spend Trend data shows a number of seasonal movements. July is a hugely important month for the hospitality sector, and hotels in Ireland are proving extremely popular this year.  We’ve also seen the largest monthly spend by AIB card customers on record in France, while back to school uniform spending peaked on 30 July.  And cinemas saw their highest spend of the year on 20 July. It is also heartening to see that card spend on electrical vehicle charging rose 8% month on month and 45% year on year as customers play their part in driving the transition to a lower carbon future. These data insights are crucial for businesses to help them plan accordingly and support our customers in their choices.”