Irish tourists turn back on extreme weather in popular hotspots as new ‘cheaper in July' Spain hol ‘phenomenon' revealed
FEWER and fewer Irish people are opting to head to Greece and Spain during peak summer times due to unbearable heat.
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Temperatures in Spain have reached 40C recently
Credit: Getty Images - Getty
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Ireland has seen a boost in tourism as a result of new travel trends
Credit: Getty Images - Getty
Most of the changes are as a result of scorching hot temperatures in what were once popular sunny spots.
The World Meteorological Organisation recently found that
And both
Traditional
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One Dublin-based travel agent, Claire Doherty, told
She explained that the people who do go to areas such as Spain and Greece are going at different times of the year to escape the heat.
It's much more likely that travellers will opt to go in April, May, or September and October.
Previously, May and September would have been the busiest months, according to Doherty.
MOST READ ON THE IRISH SUN
She said that months and later in the year, called the "shoulder periods" are much busier now.
Anti-tourist protesters blast holidaymakers with water guns & block hotels
Meanwhile travel to places like
The trend was also noticed by travel writer Sarah Slattery, founder of The Travel Expert.
She explained that it's now cheaper to travel to certain places in July instead of June, which was previously almost unheard of.
She told RTE: "Definitely, in the last year or two, there's been a big change.
"I noticed only literally this week when I was doing my travel-deals posts that it was cheaper to go away in July than it was to go at the end of June, which really never happens."
FLIGHTS RISE
And while previously, there were no direct flights from
Since then, that number has risen to four weekly flights, indicating a demand for travel to the Scandinavian country.
Other experts say that a demand for more bearable temperatures is driving tourism to Ireland.
Findings from research funded by Clare County
PhD Student at the University of
He said: "We found out that most of them were saying they were coming because of the temperatures and mild weather conditions."
Batista added that most of the people were from
He called the emerging trends "a very new phenomenon that we're actually seeing" and added that more research needs to be done into the issue.
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Irish sunseekers are ditching Greece and Spain due to the heat
Credit: Getty Images - Getty
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