Posted online: Jun 16th, 2009

Bundoran holiday target of school-leavers

Secondary school-leavers are this year passing on traditional Med hotspots and instead targeting Bundoran for “wind-down” holidays after their Leaving Cert.

The number of Leaving Cert students who would normally jet off to continental resorts is down drastically this year, according to tour operators.

Budget Travel’s seats on overseas jets from Ireland are down a massive 40 per cent this year – from 950,000 to 550,000.

The economic downturn and the need for youngsters of cash-strapped parents to hold down summer jobs to save for their first year at university are the main factors for a predicted boost in numbers holidaying at home.

Bundoran Surf Company has noticed an increased interest from Leaving Cert groups.

Co-owner Aidan Browne said: “We would get a couple of Leaving Cert groups every year but actually we have three or four booked in this year already.

“They tend to come around the end of June or the middle of July as part of their post exam celebration.

“They’re really good groups to get as there tends to be around 10 or 15 of them. And, because they’re off school, they’ll often come mid-week and stay for three or four nights.”