The Oasis ticket frenzy for the band’s two gigs at Croke Park next year created new records for spending this year, according to the AIB Spend Trend.
It was a busy month for music lovers, with the third highest spend on tickets on 30th August at around €3.9m, the day Oasis tickets went on pre-sale and the day All Together Now tickets went on general sale. The average transaction value that day was €258.
Saturday 31st August saw the highest average transaction value for tickets among AIB customers so far this year, at €347, a 300% increase on the average transaction for 2024.
31st August also saw the highest total spend on tickets in 2024 at c. €6.3m. The highest spend per transaction on tickets that day was in Kildare (€466) followed by Monaghan (€444), Louth (€429), Roscommon (€420) and Cavan (€411).
Electric Picnic fans drove the second largest ticket sales so far in 2024, on 21st August, with an average transaction value of €231.
The total spend on tickets by AIB customers that day was €4.8m. When it comes to the highest spend per transaction, it was something of a home affair, with the top spenders from the home of Electric Picnic, Co. Laois (€320), followed by neighbouring and nearby counties Carlow (€259), Kildare (€257), Offaly (€244) and Kilkenny (€241).
Summer 2024 closed out well for the hospitality sector, with spend in restaurants up c. 11% month on month, hotels up c. 7% and pubs up c. 5%. Hospitality spend increased most among people from Kerry (+15.7%) followed by Leitrim (15.3%) and Waterford (+14.9%).
The monthly data was compiled from 75 million debit and credit card transactions in store and online during August 2024 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.
Spend Trend August 2024
- Overall spend increased by 3%.
- People from Tipperary saw the biggest increase in overall spend (+4.06%), followed by Waterford (+3.92%) and Laois (+3.85%).
- Spend on homewares saw the biggest increase in the month, at c. 13%. People from Laois saw the biggest increase in homeware spend (+33%) followed by Sligo (+27%) and Carlow (+25%).
- Grocery spend accounts for the highest total spend per sector at c. €552m, an increase of c. 5%.
- Digital wallet spend increased by c. 5%; online spend and contactless spend increased by c. 3%; while chip and pin was static.
- Electric Vehicle charging spend increased by 9% and 44% compared to August 2023.
Speaking about the data, Adrian Moynihan, Head of Consumer at AIB said: “August was a very busy month for ticket sales, with a number of high-profile concerts and events going on sale, most notably Oasis of course, with the average transaction value at €347 reflecting the high demand. It was also a busy month for the hospitality sector as you would expect, which finished out strongly for summer 2024. And interestingly, homeware spend rose 13%, as people chose to invest in their homes and gardens during the summer months. These insights are vital for businesses, to help them plan accordingly, grow their business and support our customer’s choices.”
