Kerry beat Cork as the most visited summer holiday destination chosen by domestic tourists this year.
Cork was the most visited destination last year followed by Kerry, but this summer it dropped to third place, with Galway the country's second most visited destination.
Hotel spend data for the summer months of June, July and August reveals Kerry was the top destination for visitors from the majority of counties each month.
Holidaymakers from Cork, Dublin and Limerick chose the Kingdom as their holiday destination.
But people from Kerry and Waterford chose locations in Cork for their break.
For holidaymakers from Galway, most chose to go east to Dublin to enjoy their well-earned break.
Donegal was another popular destination for Irish holidaymakers.
During August, those from Mayo spent the most in Dublin hotels – the same month both counties clashed in the All-Ireland Semi-Final in Croke Park. In June and July, the majority of hotel spend from those in Mayo was in Kerry hotels.
John Brennan, head of SME Banking at AIB, which carried out the survey, said: ”Since the hospitality sector reopened a few months ago, we have seen a steady increase in spending by consumers across hotels, pubs and restaurants.
"As is evident by our Spend Trend report this month, Kerry was the place where the most consumers were spending money on hotels – pipping Galway and Cork to become Ireland’s top holiday destination this year.
Overall, consumer spending in August was down 1.5% on July, with contactless and chip and pin spend both down 5% respectively. However, online spending during August was up 4%, bucking the trend for the month.
The busiest day for consumer spending was Friday, August 27 – pay day for many – with consumers spending €8m an hour throughout the day. The quietest day for spending was Sunday August 22, when consumers spent an average of €4m an hour throughout the day.
Spending among all age groups was down during August, with the exception of under 25s, where it rose 4% on July. The biggest decrease came from those over 65s, where spending was down 4% month on month.
However, airline spending increased by 39% in August.