Irish Sit on Top of European Sex and Holiday Survey

Where does your daydream take you – to the airport or to the bedroom?

People in Ireland think about sex on a daily basis- 3.68 times per day to be exact, much more than the European average of 2.86; and we are second only to Spain (1.72) in thinking about holidays at 1.65 times per day.

That’s according to a European wide survey* of 7,200 respondents across Ireland, UK, Spain, Italy, France and Germany, commissioned by leading hotel and leisure specialist lastminute.com.

It found that on average Europeans think about holidays 1.42 times in a typical day with sex entering the conscience 2.86 times per day.  However the lustful Irish top the poll for saucy thoughts at 3.68 times per day beating even the amorous French (2.23) and the Italian stallions (2.19).

Men versus Women: the Irish make their mark

Perhaps surprisingly women in the warmer, sultry climes of Spain and Italy admitted to thinking about holidays more than sex in an average day while Irish women proved themselves to be the most red-blooded, topping the survey for thoughts of sex which surpassed thoughts of holidays- 1.73 versus 1.51 times per day.

Irish men are stereotypically thinking of holidays and sex almost all the time. Holidays come in at a chart topping 1.79 times per day and thoughts about sex are as regular as 5.48 times per day, second only to those in the UK.

Overall, European men tend to spend a lot more headspace thinking about sex. On average, they think about desires of the flesh 4.3 times a day while the desire to get away registers less on their radar: for every one moment of holiday-dreaming, European men have three erotic thoughts.

Carey Withey of lastminute.com says: “We had rather a lot of fun with this survey. Anecdotally, we know people like to spend time thinking about getting away on a great holiday or city break but we wondered how this stacked up against carnal thoughts. Our findings revealed that, for women, holidays and sex are fairly matched. As for men, the old cliché still stands: some things never change! But whatever you like to think of, research has shown that a little day dreaming always helps with relaxation.”

Survey results:

Table 1- Breakdown by European Country -

Table 2: Breakdown of European Women –

Table 3: Breakdown of European Men –

- E n d s -

About the survey

* Total sample size was 7,206 (2103 adults in the UK, 1007 in Ireland, 1066 in Germany, 1010 in France, 1010 in Italy and 1010 in Spain). The survey was carried out by YouGov on behalf of lastminute.com between 13^th-16^th April 2012.