New payments data shows favourite travel destinations for Irish

Irish Travellers flocking to sunny destinations are opting in particular for Spain, Portugal and France, according to new data from fintech Revolut.

The company compiled the data from spending on its one-click Revolut Pay service with Aer Lingus. It found the Canary Islands also featured in the top 10 destinations for July and August, with US cities New York, Chicago, Boston, and Orlando also popular.

According to Aer Lingus, the number of flights booked through Revolut Pay or using a Revolut card rose 22 per cent in the first quarter of the year when compared with the same period in 2023. Month-on-month, that figure rose 277 per cent between December and January, the airline said.

“Aer Lingus is proud to have become the first airline in the world to offer Revolut Pay as a payment option, which offers customers a seamless one-click checkout experience,” said Susanne Carberry, chief customer officer at Aer Lingus.

The payment system was introduced to the Irish market in September, 2022, with Aer Lingus officially adopting it as a payment method in 2024. It allows shoppers to approve payments on a website in their Revolut app rather than inputting payment information, bringing the transaction process to 10 seconds or less.

“It’s been brilliant to see how Revolut Pay’s simplified checkout experience has helped so many more Aer Lingus customers book their dream destination, in what we expect to be a record-breaking travel season for Revolut users,” said Alex Codina, Revolut’s general manager of Revolut’s merchant acquiring.

Revolut Pay has been used by more than 3,000 Irish merchants to accept payments, Revolut said, with the airline among several “household names” that use it in Ireland.

The move is part of Revolut’s push to get more of the travel business, with the company introducing new services such as travel insurance and e-Sims for data while overseas.