According to AIB’s recently released data, devotees of the band Oasis shelled out an average of €347 for tickets to the forthcoming year’s concert. This controversial ticket sale data is included in the AIB Spend Trend for August, which cross-references customer expenditure with the prior month’s statistics. The elevated ticket costs left a large number of fans displeased.
Adrian Moynihan, the consumer head at AIB, mentioned that the hefty price of the Oasis tickets mirrored the enormous demand, leading to a boom in ticket sales in August. Following the ticket release on the 31st of August, the average transaction value saw a tremendous upsurge, about 300 per cent compared to the average ticket purchase this year. The highest spenders on tickets were from Kildare, doling out €466 followed by Monaghan, Louth, Roscommon, and Cavan spending €444, €429, €420, and €411, respectively.
Nonetheless, Oasis wasn’t the sole lure for music fans. There were also notable ticket purchases for events like Electric Picnic and All Together Now, contributing to the music industry’s revenue. The Electric Picnic ticket was priced at an average of €231 with AIB clients collectively spending roughly €4.8 million on the day tickets were released for the next year’s festival, ie., on August 21st.
In a separate note, dining establishments throughout the state saw an around 11 per cent rise in spending from the prior month. Hotel and pub spending augmented by 7 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively. Kerry topped the regional areas, with spending in the hospitality sector escalating by 15.7 per cent. Grocery spending also surged by approximately 5 per cent, amounting to €552 million in August.
Overall, the nation witnessed an average spending uplift of around 3 per cent, with Tipperary encountering the steepest rise in August, approximately 13 per cent. They were trailed by Laois, Sligo and Carlow, recording an increase of 33 per cent, 27 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively.
Home goods registered the most considerable surge this month, rising by 13 per cent. As per Mr Moynihan, it was anticipated due to the typical trend of people investing in their residences and gardens during summer. Digital and contactless/online spending also rose, by 5 per cent and 3 per cent respectively.