Consumer spending continued to rise sharply through May, according to the latest Visa Europe spending index, maintaining recent strong rises as the best for almost two years at 9.2% up year-on-year in May.

The 9.2% increase was slightly slacker than the April figure of 9.6%, and was recorded in each of the eight broad sectors covered by the report. For the sixth successive month, the strongest expansion in spending using debit and credit cards was seen in the recreation and culture category, as consumers visited tourist attractions and made bookings through travel agents. At +19.2% year-on-year, the rate of growth was substantial, despite easing slightly from that recorded in April.

Further evidence of increased spending in the leisure economy was a double-digit increase in expenditure in the hotels, restaurants and bars sector, at 13.4% year-on-year. The rate of growth in this category was the fastest in three months.

These rises confirm earlier evidence that consumers are moving away from spending on ‘stuff’ and putting more of their expenditure into ‘experience’, whether holidays, eating out, leisure attractions and events, or culture.

Other substantial household spending increases came in transport and communication (14.9%) and household goods (13.4%), with rates quickening in both.

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The favoured channel for spending continued to be e-commerce: the annualised rate of increase was almost double the overall at 18.6%. Face to face spending in shops rose at a slower pace, just 5.1%.

Philip Konopik of Visa Europe said: “Ireland’s participation in Euro 2016 will have benefited a number of sectors, with numerous electronics retailers running promotions on televisions in the run-up to the championships and fans booking last minute packages to events.

“The strong recorded spending in the leisure economy is perhaps indicative of the growing ‘experience economy’ here in Ireland, with more and more people prioritising their spend on experiences over their spend on physical things or products.”

The Visa Index is based on spending on all Visa debit, credit and prepaid cards which are used to make an average of 110 million transactions every quarter and account for €1 in €3 of all Irish consumer spending. The Index adjusts these data spending figures for a variety of factors such as card issuance, preferences and inflation.  It is produced in conjunction with Markit, a specialist provider of economic indices, who analyse and adjust the raw data to ensure it provides an accurate indication of consumer spending trends.