Despite an intensive campaign by the state tourism agency, Failte Ireland, to persuade Irish people to holiday at home, 72.6% of Irish people planning a break of four days or more decide against the unpredictable Irish weather and opt instead to go abroad.

Only the Slovenians at 73%, the Belgians at 79% and the Luxembourgers at 99.3% were keener to get out of their own country when choosing a holiday destination.

Most of our island neighbours in Britain are also keen to go abroad, with over 58% opting for a foreign holiday and 42% preferring to stay home.

On average, less than half, or 43%, of all citizens of the 25 EU countries, surveyed by the EU agency Eurostat for the 'Europeans on Holidays' report, went abroad last year.

In general, citizens of the north European countries are keener to get away and chase the sun, with 69% of the Danes and 64% of the Germans holidaying abroad.

Conversely, few of the Mediterranean nations like to go abroad, with just 25% of Italians, 23% of Portuguese, 17% of French and 12% of Spanish willing to cross their own borders in pursuit of holiday bliss.

And with Greece the most popular sun holiday destination across Europe, it's no surprise that the Greeks are least likely of all the 25 countries surveyed to travel, with more than 90% preferring to stay on their own sun-soaked beaches.

Of the three-quarters of Irish people who travel abroad, two thirds go to other EU countries while one third holiday outside the EU.

Our island status also means that more Irish than any other EU nationality fly to their holiday destination.

Two out of three Irish tourists travel by air while over 25% use a private car, 4.6% travel by ferry, 2.3% by train and just 1.8% by coach. This is against an EU average of just 25% who travel by plane, with 58% using their own car.

Citizens of Britain are obviously making good use of the Eurotunnel, with just over half travelling by air and over 37% using their cars.