Travel Extra May 2016

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RYANAIR 108 BAG OPTIONS NO MORE OUR Y TRADE RECORD INDUSTRY SHOW THEME PARKS WHAT’S NEW 2016 R E Churchill’s polar bears Hotel sales Ovation of the Seas P PA

e d a r T

IRELAND'S PREMIER SOURCE OF TRAVEL INFORMATION MAY 2016

Free

VOLUME 20 NUMBER 5

Oh Canada Big news from a big country

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Turkey reduced

Holiday programme halved again by tour operator

our oeprator Sunway has dropped its Bodrum flights for the sumemr season.

The cancellation means Sunway have one weekly charter to Turkey this summer, down from four in 2013.

Tanya Airey says most customers are transferring to Izmir after the cancellation. Aer Lingus are retaining their service to Izmir which operates under a charter license.

In Turkey, hoteliers have been trimming the season, delaying openings and also reducing the number of hotels that they are opening to cope with a falling demand form major markets.

It is likely that Irish visitor numbers to Turkey this summer wil drop to half the previous levels of 130,000 a year. Charter services, due to start on may bank holiday weekend, have been reduced.

Turkish Airlines says there has been no impact on bookings for their double daily service to Istanbul, but point about that 86pc of their passengers are connecting to points beyond

Turkey, with Cape Town currently the big seller.

At ITB in Berlin Turkish tourism minister Mahir Unal claimed that European tour operators are deliberately holding back bookings for the country to drive down prices.

"They want to force Turkey to reduce prices even more. But we will not give up on our value for money.

That would put us back ten years," Unal said.

Spanish and Portuguese prices have been rising and hotels filling early as a result of displacement in the industry caused by holiday makers looking elsewhere from North Africah and Turkey.

Agents say Irish holiday makers are reacting creatively to the extra demand, and moving their hotel location rather than paying inflated prices.

The Irish are moving further from the beach,

ALENTEJO Largest of the Portuguese provinces, north of the Algarve, has some of the best beaches in Europe and a vibrant value added product with boutique hotels, agritourism, rural homesteads and vineyards.

ATHENS Aegean have a new overnight seasonal 2w service to Athens starting for summer 2016 and Ryanair have decided to launch 3w year round to go head to head with the newcomers. Aer Lingus increased capacity to Athens as well.

LANGUEDOC New flights to Montpelier wil make this an attractive French destination, with a tried and trusted mountain and beach product.

Coaches in Ephesus

TEN ALTERNATIVE DESTINATIONS

ASTURIAS Northern Span- COSTA Portuguese side of the ish province beside Galicia, a favourite with Spaniards but as yet undiscovered by international tourists.

strait is as easily reached through Faro as Malaga, a favourite for Spaniards with lower prices than the boisterous resorts to the east.

SUMMER 2017 COLLECTION NOW ON SALE

MAY 2016 PAGE 3

NEWS

SCHENGEN The European commis-

sion proposed the suspension of Schengen visa waivers for US and Canadian visitors because the US requires visas from citizens of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania. This is not going to be solved easily. While Croatia and Poland are close to visa waiver status and could get it if the rejection quota guidelines are altered (Roger Dow has been lobbying for this), Romania is still a way off visa waiver status.

EXPEDIA’s Global Millennial Traveller Report in eight markets: Australia, Brazil, China, England, France, Germany, South Korea and US, showed 1 in 4 millennials think it is important for people to comment on the holiday photos they post on social media, rising to 46pc of American millennials, 2 in 3 millennials want an authentic holiday experiences above all else when travelling and 31pc felt that having an authentic experience and having people comment on their photos are equally important.

FLORIDA’s Tourism Industry hosted a

record 105m visitors in 2015.

GERMANY reports overnights from

Ireland are up 10.8pc in January 2016

NATIONAL Car Rental’s Priority Service was extended to frequent business renters at 25 European Airports

PETS A survey for VisitScotland found that holidays with pets had an average spend of an extra £126 compared to holidays without pets, while over two thirds consider their dogs as family members when booking holidays.

ROAMING New EU roaming regulated rates will apply from April 26.

FERRARI plans to open a theme park in China.

MURCIA Spanish region now UNESCO designated the entire Isle of served ten times weekly from Dublin it has 20,000 beds and prices which are stubbornly 20pc lower than the big-bed rival resorts of the Costa del Sol.

Man a Biosphere Reserve.

UBER Following the lead of United Airlines, Uber is offering up to $10,000 to hackers that can identify critical flaws in their app’s security.

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MAY 2016 PAGE 4

CONTENTS

THE KNOWLEDGE Travel Extra Advertising & Subscriptions 6 Sandyford Office Park Dublin 18 (+3531) 2913707 Fax (+3531) 2957417 Editorial Office Clownings Straffan Co Kildare Managing Editor: Gerry O’Hare gerry@travelextra.ie Editor: Eoghan Corry eoghan.corry@ travelextra.ie Publisher: Edmund Hourican edmund@bizex.ie Sales Director: Maureen Ledwith maureen@bizex.ie Accounts and Advertising: Maria Sinnott maria@bizex.ie Picture Editor: Charlie Collins pix@travelextra.ie Sunday Supplement & Online: Conor McMahon conor@travelextra.ie Chief Features Writer: Anne Cadwallader anne@travelextra.ie Contributors : Eanna Brophy eanna@travelextra.ie Marie Carberry marie@travelextra.ie Carmel Higgins carmel@travelextra.ie Cauvery Madhavan cauvery@travelextra.ie Sean Mannion sean@grafacai.ie Ida Milne ida@travelextra.ie Catherine Murphy cathmurph@yahoo.com

Travel Extra takes no responsibility for errors and omissions.

Distribution Manager: Shane Hourican shane@bizex.ie Origination: Typeform

Printer: WG Baird Limited Caulside Drive Greystone Rd Antrim BT41 2RS Contact +35387-2551675 if you have difficulty getting Travel Extra.

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3 News Where to go,h ow much to pay 6 Hotels: News 8 Postcards: News from the trade

12 Canada: Access all areas 20-22 Theme Parks: What’s new 24 France: News from Rendez Vous 28-32 Flying: Ryanair’s big bag charge revolution

P

26 Afloat: Royal’s double launch 33 Ireland: German market the key 34 Global Village Inside the travel industry 36 Window seat: Cormac Meehan 37 Pictures: Out and about

Take one for the theme

lanning a theme park visit can be a bit of a rollercoaster. How can you make your clients’ theme park trip a better experience for adults and children alike? Here are a few hints.

internet access, you can pick the least crowded times. Note that tickets are not refundable or transferable and subject to availability.

GO EARLY

COMBINE

CALCULATE

Price systems can be complicated, and to make sure you are going to get maximum benefit, you need to do your sums and plan your time.

There’s no point buying an expensive multi-visit pass, only to find that you use it once before it expires.

TURN RIGHT

Most people gravitate to the left when they enter a theme park. By going right and taking in your attractions anti-clockwise, you will beat the queues to the rides, particularly if you go early.

Theme park queues lengthen and shorten in cycles. The early comer gets to do five or six extra rides because the queues are shorter.

Something as simple as a baseball hat can gain you valuable midday time in the hotter parks such as Orlando and Portaventura.

BREAKFAST

Food in theme parks can be exorbitant, so eat well before you set out. Most theme parks won’t allow you to bring food, so work out the prices in the various restaurants in advance so that you won’t be ripped off. Very often the most expensive are strategically placed to capitalise on lunch breaks or the exact moment teenies are hit by the munchies.

FAMILY Tickets can save a surprising amount of money. A family of two adults and up to four children aged between six and sixteen can save around $30.

The same applies to Duchas attractions at

Getting the right ticket can be a roller coaster

home. Visiting in a group of two or three families is usually better value than just with your own. At some parks, a group of twelve or more qualifies for a ‘passport’ ticket offering savings of up to 30pc.

SUNDAY

Evening. This is when the resorts empty, as everyone returns home for work on Monday.

When planning your trip stay an extra day and take advantage of the empty theme park and the short queues on Sunday evenings, particularly in parks that stay open late. Sunday evening in February is the best time ever to do Disney Paris, Ireland’s favourite theme park destination.

FAST-TRACK

when and where you have the option. The time saved makes it well worthwhile for the small outlay, particularly as the sun climbs or, in Orlando, humidity soars. It

saves queuing time and makes everyone less grumpy, and if you are paying for a day ticket, gives you an extra couple of rides for time spent queuing. There is a snag: Disney’s fastpass locks you into a particular ride. You cannot get a fast pass for another ride until a stated time. So gather fast passes for the most crowded rides early in the morning, and use the transport system to travel between them to do your rides. Tickets are multiple entry and the monorail is air conditioned, so it doesn’t take as much time as the queue would in the first place.

BOOK in advance

and online if you can.

Ticket specialists such as Attraction Tickets Direct can offer big savings. In Europe, most big attractions now offer internet booking deals, typically offering savings 10pc.

Tickets are cheaper if booked at least 48 hours in advance. If you have

Many of the attractions within a region or within the same parent group also team up with one another to offer combined entrance at reduced rates.

LONG -Term The

Americans stay for shorter periods than Europeans at the major Orlando theme parks, so the owners offer us five day passes which can be incredibly good value.

PROMOTIONS These are a

favourite device in theme parks, as with hotels and airlines, to boost low season capacity. Arrive in a big European theme park outside of school holidays in shoulder season you will not only enjoy shorter queues but lower prices too. This is a big advantage for anyone with preschool kiddies or who have unusual discretion days, such as the traditional Punchestown closing for Kildare schools.

Checking websites is the easiest way of finding one-off, seasonal deals.

Offers include May reductions for those who don’t need to take children out of school.

AGE -specific theme parks can save money and stress. Legoland is the best for teenies, Disney for middle children and white knuckle specialists such as Universal, Cypress Gardens, Knott’s Berry Farm, Portaventura or Alton Towers keep the teenagers happy. But don’t be put off, every park has a teenie section, and Disney has a spectacular under sevens for free offer. The best rides are often found in lower profile legacy theme parks such as Knott’s Berry farm in Anaheim or Six Flags parks around the USA. STRESSFUL

Surveys show that maximum pressure on parents is exerted by children between six and nine years of age. Once you know you can prepare.

Set limits in advance.

BEWARE Beware of prices of up to $250 for a ticket if you haven’t taken up one of the discount schemes.

There are over 75 different types of ticket types to Disney, so buying them is a complicated business. Watch out for places that have no-child discount like Discovery Cove. And be wary of attempts to up-sell. Merchandise can make a theme park visit very expensive indeed. After every ride you can purchase a photograph of yourself looking terrified for €6-€15. T-shirts at €15-€24 are close to rock-concert rates.

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MAY 2016 PAGE 6

HOTELS

IHF The Irish Hotels Federation called for a strong tourism focus from government on regionality, value for money, and more state investment in tourism.

www.travelextra.ie

AMARIS Hospitality appointed Joe Green as head of development.

KILLYHELVIN

Lakeside Hotel in Enniskillen celebrated their 40th year in business.

ACCORHotels group said that it intends

to reduce food waste by 30pc and to plant its own vegetable gardens at a number of properties.

TIPPINGUnited trade union called for the publication of an investigation into dubious tipping practices by the London government, as a result of evidence that Pizza Express. and other popular restaurant chains which were pocketing a portion of tips instead of passing them on to staff while there were questions about how service charges are shared out in 4 and 5-star hotels, with allegations of sharp practice, lack of transparency, unjustifiable admin fees and large sums of money diverted to salaried managers.

WESTBURY is now a member of luxury network Virtuoso.

BOSTON has added 905 rooms to its hotel inventory.

HILTON London Metropole appointed

Omer Lang, Director of Operations and Right, Georgina Bansal, Director of Sales.

TEXAS The petrol station from the 1974 cult classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre is to be re-opened as a hotel.

MAYFAIR A historic US embassy building in London’s Mayfair is expected to reopen as a luxury hotel.

ACCOR is buy onefinestay from Airbnb

for €148m.

GALWAY’s five-star Glenlo Abbey Hotel launched its new website in conjunction with Bookassist.

HAYFIELD Rachel Waker was ap-

pointed corporate sales manager for Hayfield Manor, Killarney Royal and The Malton Killarney. She will be based in Dublin.

RIU Hotels & Resorts inaugurates its first hotel in New York City, Riu Plaza New York Times Square.

ACCORHotels renewed its partnership agreement with booking.com.

HILTON Worldwide guests can book a

ride with Uber through the HHonors app.

Park Hotel in Kenmare provided a giveaway on the Ellen de Generes show on Patrick's Day (watch here) with six days at Park Hotel Kenmare, tickets from Aer Lingus and spa treatments by Sisley. She tweeted her 54.8m admirers later that evening. Francis Brennan suspects the Park hold the honour of the most tweeted Irish connected item of the day.

AccorHotels appointed Inge can Ooteghem as senior VP for upscale and midscale hotels Ireland and Britain.

Aiden Murphy speaking at the Irish Hotels Federation conference in Killarney

Great rate debate

H

Dublin seeing more hotel closures than openings

ow bad is the crisis in hotel accommodation in Dublin?

With just one hotel to open in 2016 (a Holiday Inn Express), and further closures likely (the Clyde Court hotel closed its 160 beds in January), this is not a problem that will be solved easily.

“The city needs 5,000 beds in the next three years,” Paul Gallagher chair of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation says. He says Dublin needs a fast track planning process similar to the 16-week turnaround that approved the Hastings Group’s plans for the Grand Central hotel in Belfast.

“Convention customers need hotels of 500-bedroom size to source beds.

There is a need for more mixed use, retail and commercial with some hospitality and more higher rise to alleviate the problem.”

He says hotel capacity problems in Dublin are now “a handbrake on growth” in tourism, something which will get worse when the D4 (formerly Jury’s) closes its 400 beds in 2018.

“There is a need for 4,000 new rooms within the next three years,” Aiden Murphy of Crowe Howarth says, “our estimate is that only 1,000 will be delivered by the end of 2018.

That leaves pressure on availability and room pricing in the short term.”

While there are hotels in development, it is unlikely that they will open until late 2017 or early 2018. “It is going to be a number of years before there is a sufficient level of new sup-

ply introduced to handle the level of demand currently being experienced in Dublin city.”

“There is an immediate need for hotels on the southside of the river along with Dublin Airport.”

“There is lots of talk about hotel sites in Dublin but very few being built,” Tom Barrett of Savills notes.

“There is no real new build, the problem is that it is cheaper to buy.”

“That may be changing. The Clarion IFSC sold for €200,000 a bedroom in 2013. In 2015 the Clayton Ballsbridge was sold for €250,000 a key. Building is an option again.”

“The Dalata group paid €12m for a site in Charlemont and will be able to get that build for €230,000 to €240,000 a key.”

“You can see new hotel bedrooms coming on stream, more are coming on the North Dock than South Dock, with the Heritage and Jury’s inn extension, less so on the South Dock.

Potentially we have 1,450 beds on the way on the northside and 950 on the southside.”

T

he most successful hotel of the recession was opened in 2010 on the silicon quays. Charlie Sheil of the 187-room Marker hotel managed to shift not just his hotel bed stock but also the thinking of his investors.

They decided to opt for four-star plus but after a difficult first six months sought five star status. Head chef Gareth Mullins changed the

restaurant to a two-concept rather than a two-sitting schedule. Within a month in April 2012 things had turned around and the Marker has added a rooftop bar with a retractable roof.

Even during the recession things turned around. Nowadays 70pc of the hotel clients are business but Charlie says “there is a surprising amount of leisure custom to be picked up at the weekend.

T

he Gibson Hotel on the other side of the river has also boomed as the redundant docklands were expanded around them.

All of Dublin is feeling the uplift, as is Galway, Belfast and Killarney, although in regions, where F&B funds the trade, things have been slower.

Sarah Gillespie of STR Global says occupancy rates in Dublin hotels (82.1pc, up 4.9pc) are back on a par with London for the first time. Rates (€112, up 17.5pc) are lower than London by about €100. Revpar (€92, up 23.3pc) is at a record.

Hoteliers react with annoyance to suggestions that rates have risen exponentially, contradicting the indices from Trivago (up 11pc in February) and booking.com (even higher at 20pc). They say booking.com is responsible for just 8pc of hotel transactions in the city and Trivago for just 5pc.

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Merger mania

Berlin conference hears more mergers likely in 2017

tewart Room of PricewaterhouseCoopers Legal told the 19th International Hotels Investment conference in Berlin that a cyber crime is committed every four seconds in Europe.

Highlights of the conference included the panel discussion with five CEOs: Geoff Ballotti of Wyndham Hotel Group Federico J Gonzalez Tejera of NH Hotel Group Christopher J. Nassetta of Hilton Worldwide Wolfgang M. Neumann of Rezidor Richard Solomons of InterContinental. Nassetta told the audience: “I just go back to what I learned on my first day in business school: Concentrate on your core business.”

Topics included Chinese industrial instability, political elections and referendums in the USA and England, and the likelihood of more mergers and acquisitions activity on the industry’s horizon.

Marriott international is to double in size when its merger with Star-

MAY 2016 PAGE 7

HOTELS

DOBIQUITY say their on-the-Job training app for the hotel trade is going to revolutionise the management and recording of onthe-job training in our industry (website).

HARD ROCK International an-

nounced the opening of Hard Rock Dalian.

TRIVAGO said that their average room

prices in Dublin varied between €157 on the southside and €120 on the northside. Visitors from UAE pay most, followed by France, Israel, England and Norway. Finland are best bargain hunters, paying an average of €118.

CLEANLINESS A survey by Dukes Dubai said 78pc of hotel guests expect an 'above average' level of cleanliness.

Marriott will double in size this June when it acquires Starwood

wood is completed by June which will see the combined group have 123,000 opened or signed rooms (Marriott’s 61,000 and Starwood’s 40,500) and a pipeline of 21,500 rooms. Amy McPherson, president and managing director, Marriott International, Europe said, “It’s been an extraordinary time for Marriott. We signed over 10,000 new rooms in 2015 for the first time in our history,

doubling in size since 2010."

Other quotes: Nassetta commented on Donald Trump, “we have been dying in this industry to have a hotelier in the White House, and this is the closest we have ever got.”

Tejera commented pejoratively on Airbnb’s business model: “it’s the selling economy, not the sharing economy.”

FITZPATRICKCastle Hotel appointed Mairead Cullen as Director of Sales. A graduate of Shannon College of Hotel Management, Sarah Higgins joined the Grand Hotel, Malahide as Duty Manager.

PWC loyalty survey claimed millennials

are not that different despite belong to the fewest number of loyalty programmes.

RED Carnation’s annual awards selected

Ashford Castle’s GM Niall Rochford as manager of the year.

IHF Former Rose of Tralee, Lauren Hogan of IHF Cork branch won employee of the year.

Lauren is from Wexford and is currently living in Cork.

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MAY 2016 PAGE 8

POSTCARDS FROM THE TRAVEL SCENE

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arlos Pinacho of Iberian Express says that he expects more than 80pc of the traffic to be point to point on the new 2w Cork to Madrid route to launch on June 18.

He said the route also offers connections on Iberia’s extensive South American network and to popular destinations such as South Africa.

Gonzalo Ceballos said Irish tourism traffic to Spain is up 17pc so far in 2016

A

2B transfers and Bookabed hosted 30 members of the trade to an event where Lee Osborne said Bookabed’s Irish business was up 49pc in the first quarter, and business from the trade overall up 40pc in the four markets where Bookabed operate.

New additions include a mix and match facility for low cost airlines out and back, and an email quote system with the agency logo, and the bottom of

S

panish Tourist Board director in Dublin Gonzalo Ceballos lauded the arrival of Iberia Express on another Irish route when he spoke at the Spanish Tourist Board lunch during the Travel Industry Trade Show.

“It is extraordinary that you have a low cost carrier that has fares from 49 each way but has a business class. It is the only airline you can fly from Ireland to Spain in a business class.

and outlined the competitive advantages Iberia will offer, the only business class service out of Cork and a facility for carrying pets (€120, but cheaper than leaving them at home given kennelling costs).Picture shows Gonzalo Ceballos of the Spanish Tourist Board, Kevin Cullinane of Cork Airport, Keith Chuter of British Airways, Carlos Pinacho of Iberian Express and Anita Gackowska of Cork Airport

the home page will have printable special offers. He says that the move towards dynamic packaging by agents seems to be gathering pace rather than slowing and may be past 80pc. Adam McKnight said that A2B Transfers business is also growing, and that his company was 98pc focussed on the trade Picture shows Adam McKnight of A2B transfers with Beverleigh Fly and Lee Osborne, of Bookabed

It is the only airline that can take live animals, pets in the hold and in the cabin from Ireland to Spain.

Extraordinarily enough Aer Lingus and Iberia Express is in IAG and the flight from Cork is a codeshare, there are lots of things that will develop between Iberia Express in future. Picture shows Gonzalo Ceballos and Spanish Ambassador Jose Marie Rodriguez at the event in the D4 hotel.

R

oyal Caribbean hosted 164 Irish agents and media on board Ovation of the Seas for an unscheduled pre-launch event portside in Southampton.

The cruise line did not initially expect to hold an event on Ovation, but the ship arrived early enough for them to take the opportunity. Ben Bouldin says Royal have put 4,000 agents on their two new ships launching five weeks apart this

K

eith Butler of Aer Lingus said that his airline is now the airport of choice for Bostonians and almost a home service carrier in Boston because of the number of connections through Dublin.

An Aer Lingus aircraft will cross the Atlantic 30 times a day this summer, the airline’s busiest summer ever, reflecting Aer Lingus position as the fastest growing airline over the Atlantic in the past

A

lan Lynch’s Cruisescapes used the opportunity to launch the Fred Olsen 2017/18 Worldwide brochure on board the Balmoral, Fred.Olsen Cruise Lines and Cruisescapes have confirmed three sailings direct from Ireland in 2017.

Intriguingly they say there are more to be announced shortly.

"This was a great opportunity to show off the ship and give a sneak peek at the

spring.

“I don’t think there are roo many cruise lines that would put as many agents on our two ships which we are doing. We go out of our way to make sure we put the right focus. Going on for the day is not the same. It is like going on with the lights off.” Caroline O'Toole of Fahy Travel with Michaela Banks and Jennifer Callister of Royal Caribbean are pictured on board Ovation.

four years and the fastest growing international airline at Logan Airport.

He was speaking at Trinity College to mark the launch of Boston College v Georgia Tech Picture shows Georgia mascot Buzz, Sarah Kate Somers and Jackie Carroll, Carol O'Reilly, Padraic O'Kane, Keith Butler, Adrian Neilan, Warren Zola, Danielle Coughlan, Elizabeth Pehota and Matthew Keemon and Boston College mascot Baldwin.

brand new brochure as we literally took delivery of it today." Alan Lynch of Cruisescapes said at the event.

One of the most interesting Irish pickups is a trans-Atlantic crossing from Killybegs.

Picture shows Susan Clarke of Neenan Travel and Audrey Headon of Headon Representation, with Paula Cross and Justyne Cross of Platinum Travel.

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MAY 2016 PAGE 9

POSTCARDS FROM THE TRAVEL SCENE

T

he Irish Travel Industry Trade Show considers its next step for 2017 after a successful day at the D4 hotel.

The show will likely need to find a new home for 2017, as the D4 hotel is scheduled to close in 2018.

The morning AGMs of Worldchoice and Travelsavers attracted 40 and 15 delegates respectively, with the Travelsavers group granting two nights at the

T

opflight hosted agents at their inaugural ski away day to Manchester indoor ski centre.

It was the biggest single event for travel agents by an Irish tour operator.

The ski market has recovered. The Irish market is back to 65,000 and is now heading upwards. “The big thing we saw this winter is that beginners are back” Tony Collins CEo of Topflight.

“We always said beginners were 40pc of

Waldorf Astoria to each of the agents who attended. There were 130 registered trade at the lunch and 210 registered at he Aer Lingus sponsored barbecue, venue for Yvonne Muldoon's first appearance to the trade since being appointed director of sales and Cormac Meehan's first speech as president of the ITAA. Picture shows Sarah Slattery photographing Philip Airey of Sunway and Lee Osborne of Bookabed.

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the market but that dropped during the recession.”

Agents who made any Topflight booking before March 25 were entered into a draw. Ski bookings counted as double entries. Winners were limited to one staff member per travel agency.

Picture shows the Topflight team at the event, Peter Chatham, Michelle Anderson, Maurice Sheils, Tricia Mitchell, Anthony Collins and Greta Pauluske

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FAMILY OF 4

D

ee Burdock headed the Visit USA roadshow where seven partners hosted the trade in Dublin and in Cork.

Irish visitor numbers to the USA are likely to hit 440,000 when the final tally is reached for 2015. “we expect the increase of 8pc in 2014 and 15pc to June of 2015 to increase this year. We have additional capacity and a number of new routes we have 43,000 seats a week on

FROM ONLY

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€ offer on our direct services from Ireland through the summer. Ireland has the highest spend per capita of any visitor other than Canada and Mexico.”

Some interesting comments were made by Tony Flynn of Ethiopian Airlines, a newcomer to Visit USA as a result of their Los Angeles service in which he stressed the links to Vegas and San Francisco and the net rates for business travel available agents

Everyone deserves a break.

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LEGO, the LEGO logo, the Brick and Knob configurations, the Minifigure, DUPLO and LEGOLAND are trademarks of the LEGO Group. ©2016 The LEGO Group.

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Page 012 Postcard 22/04/2016 09:33 Page 1

MAY 2016 PAGE 12

POSTCARDS FROM THE TRAVEL SCENE

F

rance’s tourist body hosted 740 suppliers and 900 tour operators and journalists from around the world for the annual Rendez Vous de France.

The event was staged this year iny Montpellier. Fish was served at the opening night gala for buyers.

The pirate-themed party of the regions which hosted 2,000 people on Tuesday night was festooned with the

J

ohn Grehan, who has joined Uniworld, led his first presentation to travel agents at an event in The Residence in Dublin with a virtuoso performance.

He said he had always admired the product before he saw it, but Uniworld are indisputably the best. The rest are a bit like flatpack IKEAs. I was expecting a good trip but I was blown away by it.

Everyone out on deck with a glass of

T

ryphavana Cross and Reginald Charlot of NYC& Company hosted travel agents at a table quiz in The Marker Hotel to publicise the city’s tourist programme for 2016.

By July 2016, 500 state-of-the-art LinkNYC kiosks will come to New York City’s five boroughs, offering free high-speed Internet, phone calls, and device charging for residents and visitors.

Staten Island Ferry service was ex-

big salty Mediterranean oysters and scallops from Sette, the under-rated local wine and a good selection of Grand Crus from Bordeaux and (the best) Burgundy. The 14 fam trips for 160 tour operators offered and 15 journalists an opportunity to promote regional product where the industry is dependent on French domestic tourism. Agnes Angrand is anticipating another strong year in 2016 for French tourism.

champagne and the Eiffel tour is illuminated. You are literally in the heart of the cities.”

“We have exclusive access to St Mark’s in the evening. People are queuing to get access to St Mark’s “ Sharon Jordan rounded up Uniworld’s worldwide developments, including the popular Indian programme. Uniworld are also the first rivercruise on the Ganges.

panded to run every 30 minutes, seven days a week, between St. George Ferry Terminal in Staten Island and Whitehall Ferry Terminal in Lower Manhattan.he MTA’s Second Avenue Subway will be New York City’s first major expansion of the subway system in more than 50 years, due December 2016, Mark Ashfield was the quiz winner and picture above shows the winning team at the event.

U

niworld hosted agents on board the SS Antoinette on their Castles of the Rhine cruise, complete with Alsatian Wine Village tours, Vinegar tasting at the Doktorenhof Estate, a visit to the Heidelberg Castle, spa treatments and a healthy proportion of dining and wining.

The Danube is the main market for Uniworld rivercruises out of Ireland followed closely by the rhine with French

A

er Lingus wil sustain their 3w service form Dublin to Orlando for summer 2016 and wil increase it when more aircraft become available in September.

Picture shows John Keogh of Aer Lingus and Colin Brodie of Visit Florida who hosted 70 agents at an event in the Morrison hotel to celebrate some astonishing growth in the Florida market out of Ireland.

S

ome confused passengers have been contacting Turkish Airlines to know if they can fly to Gotham

City.

So said Julie Curran of Turkish. Julie, who along with the departing Ann Marie Dalton and Onur Gul of Turkish Airlines hosted 80 members of the trade at a special preview showing of Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice in Dundrum.

The ingenious Turkish Airlines ads

cruises also gathering pace. In a spectacular promotion travel Agents have the opportunity of winning a free all-inclusive river cruise with Uniworld when they book three Uniworld cruises before 31st May 2016.

Picture shows Austin Carroll of Platinum Travel, Nicola York of Just Split, Lisa Warren. John Grehan of Uniworld, Sarah Brady of J Barters Travel and Caroline O’Toole of Fahy Travel

John also stressed that the Jetblue connections through New York were serving Irish customers. “At the moment we cannot get enough of Florida.”

Colin Brodie calculated the 100,000 Irish people will visit Florida in 2016, If Florida were a country it would be Ireland’s 13th most popular outbound destination behind Scotland and ahead of many European sun destinations with shorter flight times.

“now flying to Gotham City” and “now flying to Metropolis” (showing before Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice have each already had 30m views on Youtube. Guests at the preview were given a copy of the intricately produced and fine detailed guide to Gotham City and Metropolis also sponsored by Turkish Airlines. Picture shows Flying chef Tuncay Hatipoglu with Julie Curran of Turkish Airlines.

page 013 21/04/2016 10:05 Page 1

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Page 014 Canada 21/04/2016 10:02 Page 1

MAY 2016 PAGE 14

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DESTINATION CANADA

he five Fishermen restaurant in Halifax Nova Scotia has an international reputation for its exquisite lobster.

People travel long distances to dine there.

But nobody had ever flown in from Ireland before.

Europe Airpost flies weekly from Dublin to Halifax, so a small group of us decided to take the trip to a restaurant most famous for being used as a morgue for the victims of the Titanic.

It is a five hour flight, and four and a half hour return with the wind at your back. In pre motorway Ireland, I have spent longer driving to Dingle for a pint.

“When the Titanic went down in the early morning of April 15 1912,” our bekilted tour guide Richard Arnold told us, “the survivors went on to New York City. Halifax was the city that did its recovery.”

“Until we had the movies nobody came to these cemeteries. After the movie there was a parade. We had to figure out how to deal with the crowds.”

T

he reponse was quic.

MackayBennett cable boat was chartered by White Star Line to go out with sacks. Every sack had a number. As they picked

Next door Nova Scotia

The graveyard at Fairview Lawn commemorates 150 Titanic victims

up the bodies they went into the sacks. The first body went into sack one, all the contents with the body went into the bag.”

As the sea yielded up the dead, 328 bodies were recovered from the Atlantic, of which 59 were shipped out by train to their families, 116 were buried at sea and the rest were buried in three separate cemeteries in Halifax by estimated heritage in the Catholic, Jewish and Protestant cemeteries.

Fairview Lawn has the most, 121, in three lines of graves in gentle curves aligned with the contours of the graveyard.

The stones are in the shape of the hull of a ship, with a number and a name. Many are still unidentified, the random number of a cable-ship sack is their epitaph.

Striking Celtic crosses stand out from the granite blocks, Ernest King from Clones is among Irish names proliferate on

headstones. Movie fans come to the grave of Joseph Dawson, an Irishman who worked in Titanic's boiler room, although he has nothing to do with the Jack Dawson of the film.

After that it was to the restaurant.

It was worth it. The lobster was THAT good.

E

urope Airpost CEO JeanFrançois Dominiak is to extend the service from Dublin to Halifax in Nova Scotia next summer from July to mid-October 2016.

This will be three and a half months, instead of two months for the 2015 season.

He said that while the service is a niche leisure market they are anticipating non leisure business.

The passenger split is 25pc Dublin and 75pc Paris, where the flight originates and finishes, satisfaction ratings on the route were 97pc, Europe Airpost/ASL may increase frequency.

Eoghan Corry flew to Halifax with ASL Aviation, who are represented in Ireland by ATTS - Travel Representation Solutions +353 (1) 8828679

Eoghan Corry at dinner in the Five Fishermen, guide Richard Arnold in Fairview Lawn, Pegghy’s Cover lighthouse receives 600,000 visitors a year

page 015 21/04/2016 10:06 Page 1

Anita Customer Service Agent

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DESTINATION CANADA

hen Brendan Behan was asked why he visited Canada he said that he had looked out the window of the Irish Press office in Burgh Quay and seen a big sign; Drink Canada Dry. “So I said to myself, why not?”

There are 49 more reasons to visit each week this summer. A vast country of unexplored open spaces, Canada is a mixture of ultra-modern cities and forests, rivers, mountains and valleys that date back millennia.

Signature attractions consist of natural treasures such as Niagara Falls in the east and the Rocky Mountains in the west.

The edginess in the relations between Canada's indigenous, English and French traditions give the country a unique feel.

Canada is the second largest country in the world after Russia, a vast expanse of forests, lakes, snow-capped mountains and prairies.

The tourist board pro-

Maple staples

Canada has never been more connected

Alton in autumn

motes Canada as a four season destination offering a selection of adventure holidays (hiking and

THE CANADA FILE

Getting there 29 flights per week from Dublin Halifax 1w (ASL) Montreal 1w (Transat) St John’s 7w (Westjet ) Toronto Pearson 24w (Air Canada Rouge 7, Aer Lingus 7, Air Transat 3, Westjet 7 via St John’s) Vancouver 3w (Air Canada Rouge) What to buy Maple syrup from Quebec. Indian crafts ranging from the horn carvings of the west coast Haida to the soapstone sculptures of the Northwest Territories' Inuit peoples.

Currency €1 buys approx. 1.45 Canadian dollars Timezone Six zones, ranging from GMT -3.5 in the east to GMT -8 in the west. Daylight saving time (timezone +1) from April to October.

Related literature Girlfriend in a Coma, Generation X and other titles by Douglas Coupland.

Surfacing, Margaret Atwood A young divorcee returns to the remote island of her childhood in Northern Canada to investigate the mysterious disappearance of her father.

In the Skin of a Lion, Michael Ondaatje A midwestern Canadian farm boy leaves the backwoods for Toronto, where his life becomes linked to the building of the city's waterworks.

The Deptford Trilogy, Robertson Davies Three 1970s novels tracing the lives of three men from a small Ontario town, connected and transformed by a single childhood event.

The Shipping News, E Annie Proulx. Celebrating frozen, unforgiving, desolation of Newfoundland.

skiing to climbing and whitewater rafting), city breaks, winter activities, touring holidays by car, coach and train, and wide open spaces.

T

oday’s Irish visitors to Canada appreciate the ease of access, the friendly, English speaking locals, the affordability with a favourable Euro-dollar ratio, the safety and the variety of products to suit all ages.

Canada is a land of huge contrasts - from the

rural prettiness of Nova Scotia to the bustling cities in Ontario's Golden Horseshoe, to the spirit of the west in the Prairie Provinces and the dra-

matic seascapes and maritime traditions of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland are all more accessible this year with 29 flights per week from Dublin to

Canada.

Officially bilingual, the main languages are English and French. French is mainly spoken in the Quebec region although

CANADA’S TOP TEN PLACES TO SEE

n 1 Notre-Dame Basilica Montreal, n 2 CN Tower Toronto, n 3 Capilano Suspension Bridge Park North Vancouver, n 4 Parliament Hill and Buildings Ottawa, n 5 Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, n 6 St John's Anglican Church,

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia n 7 St Joseph's Oratory of Mt Royal, Montreal, n 8 Swallowtail Lighthouse, Grand Manan, New Brunswick n 9 Signal Hill, St. John's, n 10 Peggy's Cove Lighthouse, Nova Scotia Souce: Tripadvisor

Page 016-017 Canada 22/04/2016 10:56 Page 2

MAY 2016 PAGE 17

DESTINATION CANADA long, humid summers and heavy winter snowfall; Montreal temperatures average from -10 to 20C. The Prairies region, between the Rocky Mountains and the Great Lakes, has hot summers and cold

winters, with little rain.

The northern icecaps are permanently frozen.

Canada's multicultural society means a variety of cuisines are available in most cities. French, Greek, Italian, Indian and

Chinese restaurants abound.

Quebec has its own gastronomic tradition based on traditional French cuisine. On both coasts seafood is plentiful and affordable.

THINGS TO DO IN TOP 10 DESTINATIONS

Rocky mountain train

you wil find the language across the entire vast country. Indigenous languages have also survived in pockets and can be discovered through

A

folk music and interpretative centres.

s befits the world’s second largest country,

the climate of Canada varies widely. The west coast is the most temperate, with temperatures in Vancouver averaging 317C. The east coast has

1 Vancouver VanDusen Botanical Garden Museum of Anthropology Queen Elizabeth Park 2 Quebec City Old Quebec Montmorency Falls Park Rue du Tresor 3 Montreal Old Montreal Montreal Botanical Gardens Mont (Mount) Royal 4 Toronto St Lawrence Market Distillery Historic District Edge Walk at the CN Tower 5 Victoria Inner Harbour Royal BC Museum Beacon Hill Park

6 Niagara Falls Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory Queen Victoria Park Skywheel 7 Whistler Peak 2 Peak Gondola Whistler Blackcomb Lost Lake 8 Ottawa Canadian War Museum Rideau Canal Peace Tower 9 Calgary Glenbow Museum Heritage Park Historical Village The Calgary Zoo 10 Halifax Halifax Public Gardens Maritime Museum of the Atlantic Point Pleasant Park

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MAY 2016 PAGE 18

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T

DESTINATION CANADA

hurchill, Manitoba is a Hudson Bay port so far north there are no roads.

Tourists can stay safe here from the roaming Polar Bears that have just come off the ice.

According to Duane Collins the Canada parks interpreter co-ordinator there were 1300 polar bears in the western Hudson 40 years ago. Now there are 950, a significant proportion of the 1,400 who survive in Canada.

Churchlll is the only place on the planet it is illegal to lock your car. The reason is there are 950 polar bears around the Western Hudson and they cluster here because it is last place to freeze and first to ice up again.

It has two must-do experiences. The first a polar bear safari in a bus

Bear headed

Polar bear refuge in Churchill

on giant tractor wheels, a huge tundra buggy invented here for the experience.

There can be injuries. A local nurse told me of the

photographer who lost an arm when he leaned out of the buggy, oblivious to the bear that was directly below.

With global warming

CANADA FOR EVERYONE

there are three weeks less ice a year than was the case in the traditional cycle.

Every week affects the weight of the polar bear

by 10 kilos. Bears are hungrier, and hungry bears are dangerous.

he ice melts on Hudson Bay in July, transforming it from the world’s biggest skating rink back into a living sea with astonishing speed.

This is the signal for scores of Beluga whales move with their young from the estuary of the Churchill river on to the bay. They are easy to find.

“We will move. That should draw them,” says Mike Macri and starts up the throttle of the zodiac water craft. Most whale watching experiences tell you to keep the engines down, to whisper and not to point.

Belugas are different.

They are curious.

They like the sound of the motor and the motion of a zodiac on the surface.

They come to see what visitors they have. There

Free food and a glass of wine.

(Don’t worry, we also have beer.)



        

airtransat.ie

Page 018-019 Canada 21/04/2016 10:14 Page 2

MAY 2016 PAGE 19

DESTINATION CANADA are teams of them, swimming past, below and beside, turning and looking up at me with those winsome eye. This is nature viewing on nature’s terms, like being let into someone’s living room One mother whale nuzzles my toes and then guided her calf to do the same, snow white with puppy eyes, leaving us looking at each other wide-eyed in a way it was impossible to tell who was the tourist and who was the attraction.

You cannot claim to have completely experienced whale watching or any div-

Man versus mosquito

ing experience until you hit the cold water of the Hudson and see these magnificent animals.

There are 57,300 surviving beluga whales, and 3,500 of them in western Hudson. The 600 in the Lawrence River have a higher profile, but these guys are worth coming to see.

Mike loves his whales, and has been taking visitors to see them for 35 years.

He revs up and springs into action when the report comes in of a two year old male polar bear near the coast. The bear is wandering out to the headland near the ancient fur-trading fort.

The bear is oblivious to his aquatic viewers, and this is as good a sighting as we could imagine.

I

t was not a bear or a beluga that savaged my arm, but bugs. Millions of them. Up here the caribou can lose a pint of blood a day.

At first the mosquitoes, the really dominant animal up here on the fringe of the treeline, seemed not as bad as we suspected.

A few minutes in the boreal forest was enough to finish that delusion and show us they had menace. They found us and descended on us, so much that the bussing sounds and the attack flight path

comes to dominate the whole experience. They call it the Churchill Wave, the hand flicking as you walk through the street.

I wore my Coghlan’s bug jacket. The net keeps mosquitoes out but not their proboscis, and I soon have the scars to prove it.

We travelled for a mile with a small sub-pack of Qimmiqs, which apparently are Canadian Eskimo Dogs, very different from the Alaskan Huskies.

Curious belugas come to play

David Daley of Wapusk Adventures has spent his life working with these dogs and speaks their language.

His favourite, Storm, broke his choke chain to protect another dog when a wolf came in to the kennels and died in the process.

David is a classic musher, closer to the dogs than his own family. He puts deet on them, which sounds bad idea until you think of the alternative.

You can imagine what the early explorers had to do without deet.

Page 020 Theme Parks 21/04/2016 10:16 Page 1

MAY 2016 PAGE 20

H

THEME PARKS 2016

arry Potter’s theme park wizardry, familiar to visitors to Orlando, has opened at Universal Studios in California for the summer.

Over at Orlando three big attractions are due to open this summer.

SeaWorld have been making a splash with the news that Mako is opening on June 10th, a hypercoaster that reaches speeds of 73mph and as high as 200ft in the air, making it the fastest, longest and tallest rollercoaster in Orlando.

Busch Gardens have their own big rollercoaster opening, Cobra’s Curse. No firm date has been announced yet but it will probably be around the same time as Mako.

This is more of a family friendly ride but should still provide a few screams and starts with a 70ft vertical lift before going into a free spin.

Skull Island: Reign of Kong is opening at Universal Islands of Adventure this summer (again no confirmed date yet).

It is a brand new ride concept where passengers will be taken through the ride in giant 4x4 off road vehicles which hold 72 people at a time. The ‘drivers’ will all be in character and each driver and therefore ride experience will be different. The ride also uses wrap around 3D screen so it should be really lifelike.

Happy in Hogsmeade

Ride on

O

Three big openings for Orlando this summer

Mako will be the fastest and longest roller coaster in Orlando

rlando has just opened three new Merlin attractions at I-Drive 360 on International Drive, Orlando Eye is a 400foot-tall observation wheel s one of a trio of new attractions from IDrive 360, a new enter-

tainment complex from Merlin Entertainments, alongside Madame Tussauds and Sea Life Orlando delivering a new wave of displays of colourful fish, sharks, jellyfish, sea horses and more.

A new land has opened at Legoland Florida Re-

sort called Heartlake City, to include a horse-themed disc coaster called Mia’s Riding Adventure and an interactive show, ‘Friends to the Rescue’ as well as new shops inside Heartlake Mall..

SeaWorld Orlando will get a new show: Clyde & Seamore’s Sea Lion

High.

SeaWorld are expected to announce something big at IPW. Other recent Orlando openings include the Dr Phillips Centre for the Performing Arts and the arrival of franchise team Orlando City Soccer Club.

Mangos Tropical Café, one of South Beach’s hottest dance clubs is coming to Orlando offering 55,000 square feet of entertainment space. Escapology Orlando brings a new kind of entertainment to Orlando challenging teams of up to six players to escape from a themed room with just 60 minutes to combine clues, solve puzzles and discover the key to escape.

Crayola Experience at nearby International Drive will offer 25 handson activities.

The Whiskey on Sand Lake

U

Road, offers 100 brands of whiskey for the thirsty connoisseur.

niversal’s last big opening was London/Diagon Alley attraction, is a mini theme park in itself scattered between the two theme parks: The Knight Bus, Hogwarts Express, Knockturn Alley, Ollivanders and Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts can be found in Universal Studios and at he other end of a connecting Hogwarts Express train, Dragon Challenge, Flight of the Hippogriffs, and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

Explorer’s Reef opened at SeaWorld San Diego last year, a multimillion-dollar transformation of the park’s front entrance from “gate” to “experience.”

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MAY 2016 PAGE 22

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THEME PARKS 2016

fter hundreds of millions of euro invested in bigger, faster and more spectacular rides, theme park owners have turned their minds to more practical things: queue times.

Getting to the attraction faster and spending less time queuing has become a priority.

Last year Walt Disney World implemented its new Fastpass plus system for making reservations for its rides and shows in advance of your visit to the resort.

Fastpass plus allows you to make three reservations a day for rides and shows at the Disney parks, up to 30 days in advance of your trip, doubled to 60 days for guests who've booked a stay at one of Disney's on-site hotels.

To take advantage of the reservation system, you must have purchased a Disney World theme park ticket and associated it with an account on the Walt Disney World website.

Once you're logged in with a valid ticket, you can start making reservations within your time window.

Developments at Disney Orlando include the evolution of Downtown Disney into Disney Springs, doubling the number of shops, restaurants and other venues.

The new area is opening in phases starting.

New restaurants include Morimoto Asi, the Boathouse an up-scale, waterfront dining restaurant at Disney Springs, STK Orlando steakhouse with a chic lounge and the only rooftop dining venue in Disney Springs, Two Chefs Seafood, The Palm Restaurant; and North Quarter Tavern.

Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows, complete with plunge pools are set to open on one of its original onproperty hotels with a remodelled Great Ceremonial House, the

Just the ticket

How tackling queue lengths as important as new rides

Alton Towers

Disneyfied name of the hotel's lobby.

Disney’s new Avatarinspired land, is set to open in 2017. The resorts says that the expansion will be the largest in Animal Kingdom’s history and will feature floating mountains, bioluminescent rainforests and a Banshee flying attraction, as well as new after-dark entertainment.

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t Legoland Windsor, the Traffic attractions include an enlarged LegoCity Driving School is with more child-size Fiat cars and a new lane on the test course. Boating School is getting a new look featuring more boats and more Lego models, featuring surprising animations and audio affects .

Novice motorists (aged 6-13) looking to pass their Lego City Driving School test can be briefed

in a bright and colourful newly re-vamped training area before taking the wheel of a Lego Brick shaped mini electric powered Fiat car to negotiate the test course.

A new Lego Friends themed area opened on the Resort last year and Friends themed rooms at the Resort Hotel. There are now 55 rides and attractions on the park.

A wing coaster, Flug der Dämonen opened at Hiede Park in Germany in 2014, one of only three in Europe. The big attraction at the park is Colossos, which is the second steepest wooden rollers coaster in the world.

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lton Towers last big innovation was Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure.

Thrill seekers can take part in the Big Six Challenge, featuring the world’s first 14 looping rollercoaster, The Smiler.

Last year’s big opening was the younger children’s section, Cbeebies Land with 13 new rides: In the Night Garden Magical Boat Ride, Get Set Go TreeTop Adventure, Postman Pat's Parcel Post Numtums Number GoAround, Charlie & Lola's Moonsquirters & Greendrops, Justin's House PieO-Matic Factory, Nina's Science Lab, Mr Bloom's Allotment, Something Special Sensory Garden, Tree Fu Tom Training Camp and Wobble World.

Alton Towers new accommodation opening is the Enchanted Village with 120 fairytale lodges and five treehouses alongside children’s play areas and a new themed restaurant that will also feature family entertainment.

The Enchanted Village is themed around a fairytale hideaway and located in woodland next to the Alton Towers Hotel.

The treehouses will sleep groups of eight while the fairytale lodges will provide perfect family accommodation sleeping five people.

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y the sound of things Alton Towers wil be transformed over the coming years. The theme park operators will remove three rides and replace them with a mixture of flat rides and water rides: Ripsaw, The Blade and The Flume. Meanwhile, the Sonic Spinball roller coaster will be removed altogether, as part of a proposal to reduce the visual and noise impact of the Adventure Land area Proposals also include a new entrance to the east of Duel in the Gloomy Wood area. This would radically change the experience of entering Alton Towers, with guests no longer gaining the customary view of Towers

Street with the mansion in the background. Alton Towers development sets out six priorities: n Develop a year-round destination with new onsite accommodation and more indoor, all weather attractions. n Maximise overnight stays by building new on-site accommodation. n Appeal to different demographics by offering a range of attractions that will attract families and thrill-seekers alike. n Expand beyond the theme park to offer additional entertainment beyond the park's gates. n Improve "visitor circulation" making it easier for guests to get around the notoriously sprawling Alton Towers site. n Invest in preserving the site's heritage by renovating and preserving areas of the historic Towers building.

Page 022-023 Theme Parks 21/04/2016 10:57 Page 2

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steel dive coaster, baron 1898, opened at Efteling last year. This year it wil be followed by €42.5m dark ride Court of Hearts (Dutch: Hartenhof)) which could be transformational for the park. In the oft postponed project, visitors will ride in a cart which will take them into the castle of the park mascot, Pardoes, which is his fantasy world of Symbolica.

Europa Park in Germany celebrated its 40th anniversary last year and released a new 4D film based around the park mascot, Euromaus, and his friends called 'The Time Carousel'.

Upgrades to existing attractions include adding a dark ride portion to Whale Adventures, a complete refurbishment of Columbus Dinghy, new travelator between

MAY 2016 PAGE 23 the car parks and main entrance, new parade and a brand new entrance for hotel guests. The park plans a €100m aquapark between Europa-Park and the A5 Motorway to be opened in 2018.

It s probably the only theme park with its own Michelin two-star restaurant, “Ammolite the Lighthouse Restaurant" in the Superior Hotel Bell Rock in Europa-Park.

Last year’s big opening was 'Arthur in the Minimoys Kingdom' (also known as Arthur: The Ride), the park’s 12th roller-coaster.

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hantasialand opened ChiapasDIE Wasserbahn last year, what it calls the world’s most advanced log flume ride, a six minute adventure and the world’s steepest drop on a log flume ride. Gardaland

THEME PARKS 2016

Pirate Falls Treasure Quest at the Legoland Windsor Resort_

in Verona opened “Oblivion the Black Hole” dive coaster in March having opened Prezzemolo Land last year.

Liseberg in Gothenburg opened Helix, a steel roller coaster featuring two launches, seven inversions and numerous airtime spots that is the

second longest roller coaster with inversions in the world.

The 5,000 brick XWing fighter returns to Legoland Billund, where the Lego brick was originally conceived, for display throughout the season.

Legoland Deutschland launches

Catch that thief at the Lego City Police Station as the new theme.

It sounds like an episode from the Simpsons, but an 800-acre Noah’s Ark Encounter park is planned to open in Hebron, Northern Kentucky about 50 miles south of Cincinnati.

The brainchild of Answers in Genesis, the founders of Northern Kentucky's controversial Creation Museum say enough money has been raised to proceed with a $70m biblical theme park built around a 510-foot replica of Noah's Ark.

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MAY 2016 PAGE 24

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DESTINATION FRANCE

big advantage of the new Aer Lingus service to Montpellier is that it gives tourists that dream option of starting in one part of the region and finishing in another.

A flight to Toulouse brings you close to some of the most amazing heritage villages in Europe.

Being badged by UNESCO is by no means a guarantee of your cultural authenticity, but many of these towns have being given that well-deserved international accolade.

The jewel in the crown is Albi, the brick city. Its cathedral is visited by more people then all but two French cathedrals, Notre Dame in Paris and Strasbourg. Albi is different from the other two signature treasures of the Gallican church.

It is an art gallery where the paintings and sculptures don't stop then magic, they merge into the architecture of the building At each turn is another work of mediaeval artistry. After the cathedral a wander through the little streets sets the tone for entering the viewing spot over the river and the old bridge, one of the oldest in France, still conveying a traffic jam.

Our hotel, the Hôtel Mercure, Episcopale City, was situated blissfully beside the bridge with river views over a weir filled with fish life.

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bigger surprise was yet to come.

The village of Conques, scarcely known outside of France, may be one of the most beautiful heritage sites on the planet.

It has just 90 residents but attracts half a million visitors a year. They come to see the cathedral, bare walled by the standards of many in this region but right beside it is that rarity, to start rarity, a treasury that survived the

Mountain gold Eoghan Corry visits the UNESCO cities of Midi Pyrenees

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Tour guides Anne Romiguerre and Marine Gil with the 10th century statue of St Foy in the treasury of Conques,

revolution.

The Treasury is now the property of the town but still held by the friars and Frere Jean Daniel, if you ask him nicely, will play one of his amazing works on the organ in the ancient cathedral.

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he statue of St Foy spent the revolutionary years buried in the vegetable garden and now since serenely in a glass case with a wry smile.

It is much amused, probably, by the debates that rage around it about where it came from and whom it might represent, a Roman emperor, the death mask of Charlemagne, jewels from pagan times and Visigothic loot added to a dozen inherited style enhancements from difference eras and artistic styles.

The statue or reliquary of St Foy is a cabinet of curiosities, it scarcely matters what lies inside this or the other reliquaries in the Treasury.

Somebody concluded recently that the true bone of St Paul in one of the

reliquaries was in fact a rabbit bone, and as for the true Cross, could it be sacred Celtic yew like the foundation of St Foy’s reliquary.

The fun doesn't stop there. Past the naked winter vineyards and you reach Rozer for more cathedrals art, a big organ, and Bishops Palace with one of the most beautiful cloister gardens you will see north or south of the Pyrenees.

Arts and culture flourished here and, in that peculiar way brought about by having to recover after being visited by destruction in the Albigensian Crusade, gloriously misnamed, and the religious wars of the 16th century might have helped keep the painters and gilders with new focus and new opportunities.

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hill outside Dublin.

It gives the city a 300year-old edge in what many people regard as the modern art of marketing and branding.

Even the word suggests something special, sundrenched, and culturally adept.

The city itself is a contrast to the ancient dark mountain stones of the hills to the West, its limestone is porous and yellow.

The Arc de Triomphe from 1715 tells you much of what you need to know about the city. Its reputation was rebellious, resentful, dissident, and subversive, but it turned its loyalty back to Louis

XIV and his successors.

The Cathedral is sitting uncharacteristically below the little parkland hills around, a former convent converted for higher purposes, nearby St Anne’s now a museum and a network Gardens surrounded by a yellow version of the Georgian architecture which will make Dubliners feel at home.

A treasure is the mikve, ritual Jewish bath which dates back to the 12th century and is one of only three in Europe. For admission to this and to the 90 steps to the top of the artistry on go to the tourist office for an official guided tour.

ontpellier unlike other UNESCO centres, is not about old stones at all. it is about lively bars and the banter of young student conversation and activities.

Its beaches to have shed their reputation for mosquito bites.

Nowadays pink flamingos play in the preserved marshes of the coastline and along the shore you will find another cathedral, Cathedrale de Maguelone, this time with a Visigoth altar and an ancient slogan 15 km from the city. A cat decided to walk the pews while we were there. Sacred to all creatures.

ontpellier was a Protestant capital before it fell to Louis XIV and one of the legacies of that war is the number of places where the refugees fled that re named Montpellier to this day, including a

n Aer Lingus commences direct flights to Montpellier on May 20.

Top: Judith Erdei photographing the bridge at Albi, two views of Conques

page 025 21/04/2016 10:58 Page 1

VENUE

EXHIBITOR PROFILE

UL Arena University of Limerick Limerick Ireland t: +353 (0)61 213 582 www.ulsport.ie

• Adventure Travel • Airlines • Airports • Caravans & Motorhomes • International Camping Sites • Car Rental Companies • Coach Tours • Cruise Companies • Ferries • Golf • Escorted Tours • Health Tourism • Home Holidays • Hotels • National and Regional Tourist Organisations • Overseas Property • Weddings & Honeymoons • Over 55’s Holidays • Rail Holidays • Theme & Leisure Parks • Travel Agents/Tour Operators • Travel Related Services • Tourist Attractions • Travel Accessories

2017 DATE AND TIMES Saturday February 18 12.00pm - 5.30pm Sunday February 19 12.00pm - 5.30pm

CONTACTS Maureen Ledwith - Sales Director t: +353 (0)1 291 3700 f: +353 (0)1 295 7417 e: maureen@bizex.ie Paulette Moran - Sales Manager t: +353 (0)1 291 3702 f: +353 (0)1 295 7417 e: paulette@bizex.ie

ORGANISERS Business Exhibitions Limited 59 Rathfarnham Road Dublin D6W AK70, Ireland t: +353 (0)1 295 7418 f: +353 (0)1 295 7417

www.holidayshow.ie

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MAY 2016 PAGE 26

AFLOAT

STENA

Line has ordered eight LNG-fuelled RoPax ferries of 3,000 lane metres and 1,000 passenger capacity, optimised for efficiency and flexibility, and the first four for delivery 2019 and 2020, from AVIC Shipyard in China. The vessels for use in Northern Europe are 50pc larger than today’s standard RoPax vessel. Dublin-Holyhead is “a strong contender” for one of the new vessels. Dan Sten Olsson, Chairman in Stena Line foresaw “a continued demand growth for short sea services in Northern Europe.”

P&O Cruises announced a 14 night fly cruise to Barbados on February 3rd 2018 on board Britannia.

AVALON Waterways launched Avalon Passion in the Austrian town of Linz with Jill Ellis acting as godmother, their second suite ship in a week bringing the total to 12 in a European fleet of 16.

OVATION

Chinese actress, Fan Bingbing, will be the Godmother for Ovation of the Seas

NORWEGIAN

Jeremy McKenna was appointed Norwegian Cruise Line’s head of sales for Ireland and Britain

NORWEGIAN

Cruise Line (that’s

in Chinese) celebrated the keel laying in Papenberg of Norwegian Joy, which will welcome Chinese guests in summer 2017. The cruise liner will feature a go-kart track.

HOLLAND America’s new 2,650-pax

Koningsdam commenced sailings from Rome.

New to the line features such as a 270-degree LED screen in the main theatre, family cabins and solo cabins with no single supplement.

HURTIGRUTEN

is exploring the possibility of adding Ireland and Britain to its itineraries.

CELEBRITY

is expanding Xcelerate, its new, high-speed internet service, to the entire fleet (with the exception of Celebrity Xpedition, a Galapagos-based vessel). The increased wi-fi speed is based on Royal Caribbean’s satellite feeds.

PRINCESS Cruises signed an agreement with Fincantieri for a fourth and fifth 3,560-pax Royal-class ships for delivery 2019 and 2020. Princess now has 16 ships scheduled for delivery between 2016 and 2020. The class will have balconies in 80pc of the cabins.

P&O Cruises' Oceana failed a US health inspection.

CLIA

reports an enthusiastic response to its new European travel agent conference, Cruise360, to launch in Marseille in October 2016.

AVALON named the Imagery II. TAUCK named the 130-passenger Grace

in Maastricht on Sunday.

CROISIEUROPE

is to add a river cruise ship on the Chobe and Zambezi Rivers in Africa in 2017.

Ovation of the seas floats out

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Slicker Ovation

Third Quantum-class ship changes the game

t first glance, there is not much difference between Ovation of the Seas and its two predecessors in the Quantum Class,, a noodle bar and a change of restaurant.

Look clsoer and yu will see lots of differences.décor is more interesting.

IN keeping with the Chinese theme to the crusie ship, a pair of pandas were installed where the polar bear and Gigi the Giraffe were placed on Quantum and Anthem respectively.

Ovation also has mandarin signage and some culinary differences as it sets off for the Chinese market, a

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product.

Michael Bayley CEO of Royal Caribbean told Travel Extra that dynamic dining wil be relaunched as MyDining across the Royal Caribeean fleet during 2016. Ovation joins sister ship, Quantum of the Seas, which is also based in China; as well as Mariner of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas and Legend of the Seas, which are also all based there.

"The core essence of the brand remains the same, whatever market the ship is in," said Bayley. "But when we put a ship in a different market we make all those changes.

DUBLIN PORT RECORD PROFIT

he Dublin Port Company has paid an almost €11m dividend to the State as trade and profits surge at the semi-state business.

The dividend for 2015 is 24pc more than was paid

by Dublin Port in respect of 2014.

Dublin Port Company chief executive Eamonn O'Reilly said that 2016 had

I

large percentage of Chinese crew, a noodle bar replacing Johnny Rocket's Burger Bar, more high-end retail a larger casino Ovation is currently in the UK, but will shortly be on its way on a 52-day "Global Odyssey" taking in Barcelona, the Suez Canal, Dubai and Singapore, before reaching its summer homeport of Tianjin in China in June.

Claudia King of Royal Caribbean told Travel Extra that ships in Asia are more focused on concierge services.

In general the ship is more refined, seems more high end and a little more purple gives a very classy feel to the

started strongly, with the overall level of trade at the facility jumping 6.8pc in the first quarter of the year.

Imports were up 6pc in the period, while exports were 7.9pc higher.

The port is now even busier than it was during the boom, with an average of 20 ships a day arriving during the first three months of 2016.

Dublin Port has already embarked on a major €230m project to expand its facilities. That scheme will be completed in four years.

The Alexandra Basin Redevelopment will deepen and extend berths, enabling it to handle bigger vessels. This will allow larger cruise ships to visit the capital. They'll also be

able to berth closer to the city centre. Last year, 93 cruise ships with 149,000 visitors called to the port.

The European Investment Bank has provided €100m in finance for the Alexandra Basin project. It is part of a major masterplan for Dublin Port that is designed to steer expansion to cope with growth up to 2040.

IRISH FERRIES BUYS NEW VESSEL

rish Continental Group has agreed to buy a high-speed vessel known as the “Westpac Express” for $13.25m.

The Irish Ferries owner said it expects to take ownership of the boat

from current owner Bali Westpac by late May. Upon delivery, the vessel is to be bareboat chartered to the company Sealift for a firm period of four months with four further one year option periods and a final seven month

option at the charterer’s option.

The Westpac Express was built in 2001 by Austal Ships. It has a gross tonnage of 8,403 tonnes, passenger capacity of 900 and a car carrying capacity of 182 units.

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MAY 2016 PAGE 27

AFLOAT

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Big spend MSC

Cruise line announces €4bn megaship deal in Paris

rench President Francois Hollande joined Gianluigi Aponte of MSC and Laurent Castaing of STX France hosted international media for an announcement of MSC Cruises’ order of four 5,400 pax LNG-powered ships.

The ships will be build by STX France for delivery in 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2026, a new class: World Class.

This additional €4bn investment raises MSC expansion to €9bn including orders with STX France for two Meraviglia and two further Meraviglia-Plus Class ships and another three Seaside Class ships from Fincantieri in Italy.

Fincantieri also carried out the €200m Renaissance Programme of four of 12 of the Company’s fleet.

Francois Hollande told the audience at the Élysée Palace that STX was in danger of losing orders and jobs when

CELEBRITY

Cruises announced ‘Ben Fogle’s Great Adventures’ Abu Dhabi excursion. Celebrity Cruises will premiere A Taste of Film on two more ships, Celebrity Summit and Celebrity Millennium this spring.

BRITTANY Ferries confirmed early bookings were up 19pc. The operator started its new season yesterday with the return of its Cork-Roscoff route, which continues until November 4.

STENA

Cruise Line announced a partnership with Miami’s Concrete Beach Brewery, which will see the opening of the Red Frog Pub and Craft Brewery on board Carnival Vista.

SEX An MMGY Global study claimed 35pc of people on cruises said they have more sex than when they are at home, 57pc said they eat more and 46pc said they drink more alcohol.

Gianluigi Aponte of MSC and Laurent Castaing of STX France

he introduced a series of measures to bring costs back into line with Papenburg.

“The question is no longer have we enough orders but how are we going to satisfy them?” Laurent Castaing

BRITTANY Ferries carried 1,185 pets in 2015, a 20pc increase, Travel Extra’s frolicsome feline Clinger Corry repurrts. There was a 64pc increase on numbers carried in 2011.

said that France had to put supports in place to compete against shipyards VIKING Cruises will name Viking Sea on that were getting explicit state aid in the Thames on May 5. their attempts to woo major cruise CRYSTAL Cruises is adding a sister to line build contracts, “even liberal Crystal Esprit, a polar class mega-yacht. governments.”

Booking your summer holiday in France is child’s play when you travel with Irish Ferries. For a deposit of just €100 you can book your preferred sailing times and dates, travelling from either Dublin or Rosslare. Get the ball rolling on a fantastic French holiday.

Book online today at www.irishferries.com

K898

Book with a €100 deposit minimum 43 days before travel, final balance payable 42 days before departure. New bookings only. Subject to availability. See irishferries.com for details.

€

Page 028-032 Flying 21/04/2016 11:06 Page 1

MAY 2016 PAGE 28

THE FLYING COLUMN

EMIRATES placed an order for an additional two new A380 aircraft with manufacturer Airbus, to be delivered Q4 in 2017, originally destined for defunct Japanese airline Skymark. Emirates operates the world’s largest fleet of Airbus A380s, with 75 in service and a further 65 on firm order.

Aviation with Gerry O’Hare

HNA bought Swiss airline catering firm

Gategroup for US$1.5 bn, a 17pc percent premium to the catering firm's last traded price.

HNA acquired cargo handler Swissport International for CHF2.7 bn Swiss francs last year.

France and Germany joined Britain in suspending export credit facilities for Airbus deliveries, expanding the fallout from a potential corruption probe in Britain.

AIRBUS cancelled two A380s from In-

dian Ocean carrier Air Austral, which had aimed to fit the planes with 840 seats, the highest-capacity seating layout in the history of civil aviation after Air Austral repeatedly delayed their delivery.

INFORMATION A deal on sharing passenger information has been finalised by the Irish and British governments and signed

by Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, AER LINGUS announced 400,000

seats to the sun this winter, their largest ever as part of a winter schedule. Canaries, Malaga, Faro, Lisbon, Dublin, Cork and Shannon all feature.

ALAN Joyce, CEO of Qantas was hon-

Robin Kiely, Michael O’Leary and Kenny Jacobs

Charges offloaded

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Ryanair vows to end kilo lottery when booking bags

yanair launched Year Three of its 'Always Getting Better' oured by the Irish aviation industry at Ireland’s programme of customer servAviation Gala Ball. ice improvements with a commitment to reduce the number of different bag ANNA.aero reports 320 new airline serv- charges from 108 to 6. ices were launched in the first three weeks of They will also introduce and a Loythe summer season, down from 460 in both alty Scheme "My Ryanair Club" 2014 and 2015. New services will be operated which will give priority access to by almost 100 airlines operating to airports sales, money off vouchers and tarspread across some 80 countries. geted incentives nd free return flight RYANAIR launched its Derry winter when you book 12 flights in a year, 2016 schedule with 3 routes to Glasgow Inter- starting in October 2016.

Apparently they had a 15kg bag national (5 pw), Liverpool (5 pw) and London Stansted (9 pw) which will deliver 300,000 an- which could be booked at high or low season (2), at 3 different stages of nual passengers. booking (during booking, added to FOKKER Services announced that booking or at airport) (3), across 3 CityJet has decided to enter into a long term different route lengths / types (short, ABACUS program for its fleet of 8 CRJ900 long or domestic) (3) and as 3 differaircraft. Under this program, Fokker Services ent bag options (1st 2nd or 3rd bag) will provide Nose-to-Tail PBH component (3).. Now customers will be able to management; Lease, Availability and Maintechoose to book a 15kg, 20kg or third nance services for CityJet’s fleet of (8) CRJ900 20kg bag and will pay one price per aircraft. The program will also cater for 6 opbag size regardless of whether the bag tion aircraft, 2 of which options have already is booked during the initial flight been exercised and 4 that may be phased in as booking, added to the booking or of next year. booked at the airport.

AER LINGUS passenger traffic (RPK) in Mar was up 23pc with a passenger load factor of 82.5pc, up 3.4 percentage points.

RYANAIR plans to expand its base at

Berlin-Schoenefeld Airport from 5 to 9 aircraft from October. The number of routes will grow from 27 in the 2016 summer season to 40 in the winter schedule, which will include Belfast, Las Palmas, Manchester, Sofia (Bulgaria) and Toulouse.

C

A spokesman explained “high season and low season baggage fees will be consolidated to one set rate, which will only be higher on longer haul routes, thus offering six baggage options.”

“We will finalise these fees shortly and the new baggage options will be introduced in June.”

Sixteen separate enhancements were announced, some of them evolved from previous AGB programme announcements: n Lower airfares, as Ryanair passes on lower oil savings to its 106m customers. n New aircraft interiors featuring slimline seats, more leg room, coat hooks, LED lighting & less yellow n Leisure PLUS bundle fare including reserved seats, priority boarding & 20kg bag n Improved Business PLUS service with more flexible ticketing, more fast-track airports & auto-check-in n Travel ‘Extras’ bookable in the mobile app – upgrade seats, buy fast-track, book parking or transfers n ‘One flick’ payment system on

the mobile app n Rate My Flight’ function on the mobile app, rating crew & flights – real-time customer feedback n Auto check-in (& auto mobile boarding passes) for reserved seat bookings made through My Ryanair n My Ryanair’ Club discounts, 24hour priority access to seat sales n My Ryanair ‘Top Up’ – top up accounts of friends & family or top up as gifts n Simplified baggage options – 6 bag booking options (reduced from 108) n Improved Digital Gift Vouchers service – for personal or corporate gifts n Destination guides on website, app & emails n Event & restaurant discounts n Dedicated Groups website, allowing groups to make & manage their own bookings n Ryanair Schools Travel – dedicated travel agency for school tours offering savings & more choice

CHRISTOPHE LEAVES MAB EARLY

hristoph Mueller will leave Malaysia Airlines in September 2016, following his request to depart before the end of his three-year con-

tract citing “changing personal circumstances.”

In ensuring continuity and an orderly succession, Mueller will serve a sixmonth notice period to

September 2016.

Following this, he has expressed his intention to the MAB Board of Directors to remain with the airline as Non-Executive

Director. The Board has also appointed Chief Operations Officer Peter Bellew as Executive Director on the board with immediate effect.

Page 028-032 Flying 21/04/2016 11:06 Page 2

THE FLYING COLUMN

Aviation with Gerry O’Hare

MAY 2016 PAGE 29

RYANAIR announced four new central European bases at Bucharest, Vilnius, Sofia and Prague. Back in January, the ULCC also announced it would be making Timisoara in Romania its 78th base. Eleven 737-800s are being allocated across these five bases. All are also bases for Wizz Air.

BA is in talks about code-sharing with China Southern Airlines Co, Asia’s largest carrier by passengers, and China Eastern Airlines Corp both members of the SkyTeam alliance that rivals BA’s Oneworld.

AER LINGUS faces a potential €3m hike in its annual wage bill after the Employment Appeals Tribunal ruled that it should have paid increments in 2013 and 2014.

EASYJET announced Palma as the lo-

cation of its first seasonal base with 3 A319/320 aircraft based there for eight months of the year starting in spring 2017.

RYANAIR launched 41 routes in the first three weeks of the summer season up from 38 in 2015 but down from 60 in 2014.

LAX: New Aer LINgus service commences this month

A

Tiocfaidh ár LA

Aer Lingus resumes third cancelled service in June

er Lingus return to Los Angeles with a resumed direct service in May. Newark’s gain is JFK’s loss and Washington’s A330 has been transferred to Los Angeles. There is no sign of the early Dublin to JFK flight on either the booking engine or the

J

timetable. Before September and two anticipated the A330s arrive there is minimal change in seats to North America, because Shannon-Boston has been reduced capacity might even be BELOW 2015 capacity.

The Dublin-Washington 4w A330 is transferred to Dublin-LAX and replaced by a B757.

The early morning Dublin-JFK B757 is transferred to Dublin-Washington.

Orlando goes from 3w to 2w to boost LAX. Shannon to Boston has been reduced, from the Omni Air B767 to Air Contractors B757

AIR FRANCE RACE TO REPLACE ON

ean-François Cirelli, former CEO of Gaz de France and GDF Suez, now president of the French branch of BlackRock, and Jean-Marc Janaillac, CEO of the public transport group Transdev are front runners in the race to succeed Alexandre de Juniac at the head of Air

France-KLM. Frédéric Gagey (CEO Air France), Pieter Elbers (CEO KL), are Lionel Guérin, CEO of HOP arealso in the running, as is Véronique Bedague of Manuel Valls.

Air France-KLM: CEO Alexandre de Juniac has quit to become CEO of

IATA. Thierry Antinori, the current number two of Emirates, Airbus CEO Fabrice Bregier, Olivier Piou from Gemalti and Guillaume Pepy, CEO of SNCF are said to have opted out of contention.

In order to be ready to nominate a candidate for

the AGM on 19 May, the nomination committee needs to propose at least one name to the board on May 3. Given the complexity of the process, a postponement of the decision beyond the general meeting is not being ruled out.

yanair will trial a passenger transfer service at Stansted and Barcelona for its customers this summer.

Michael O'Leary says that the service, which would allow transfer passengers to remain airside rather than having to go through security again

could be rolled out at other airports if it's successful.

“The airline plans to make it easier for passengers originating at airports not connected to a significant number of Ryanair routes to connect to a wider network at another airport.”

“The connecting time at Stansted might be two hours and you won't have

to come through passport control, go back, and check in again."

“The only complexity is can we get the bag across to the other flights without losing loads of bags."

"We'll run it across a three or six-month period and see what the demand is like. It's not going to increase our load factors and

we don't want to displace point-to-point passengers either.

"It's another one of these things we're trialling, and if we can make it work between our own flights, then there's no reason why we can't transfer on to other airlines as well."

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RYANAIR CONNECTION SURPRISE

BELFAST International Airport passenger numbers were up 12pc to 370,000 for March. Managing director Graham Keddie said that it could break the 5m passenger barrier by the end of the year.

MONARCH Airlines is reported to be eyeing up a number of struggling European rivals as its owners weigh ambitious growth plans for the low-cost carrier.

RYANAIR launched its Winter 2016/17 schedule for Liverpool John Lennon Airport with a new route to Sofia (2 pw) and five new winter services to Bergerac (2 pw), Las Palmas (1 pw), Pisa, Porto and Szczecin (each 2 pw), plus more flights to Alicante (5 pw) and Malaga (4 pw) – in all a 7pc increase in winter capacity with 24 routes, 93 weekly departures and 1.9m annual passengers.

AIR FRANCE expressed interest in

purchasing Air Europa, a SkyTeam member, after the failure of negotiations between its owner Globalia and HNA.

ARAN ISLANDS

numbers flying to the Aran Islands, made up of those using the subsidised and non-subsidised services, in 2015 were up 2.5pc to 39,506.

BOEING delivered Ryanair's 400th

Next-Generation B737-800 (EI-FRC) on April 4. Ryanair operates the largest fleet of B737800s in the world.

AER LINGUS is looking at connec-

tivity for its short-haul fleet, after equipping its Airbus A330s with both Wi-Fi and mobile. It will explore both Wi-Fi and mobile options for its short-haul fleet of roughly 40 aircraft.

EISER Global Infrastructure Fund, based in London, which owns Belfast City Airport is reported to be selling to another consortium.

Eiser which bought the airport for £132.5m in 2008 are thought to have spent around £20m on the airport over the last eight years.

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MAY 2016 PAGE 30

THE FLYING COLUMN Aviation with Gerry O’Hare SHANGHAI DUB HUB PASSENGERS NOW 14pc

’s pilot free trade zone is partnering Ireland’s Shannon Free Zone to cooperate in the aviation industry and boost cross-border investment. A memorandum of understanding allows the two sides to share market resources worldwide for aircraft leasing and promote the development of an industry chain covering aircraft inspection and maintenance, pilot training and aeronautical materials trading.A memorandum of understanding allows the two sides to share market resources worldwide for aircraft leasing and promote the development of an industry chain covering aircraft inspection and maintenance, pilot training and aeronautical materials trading.

RYANAIR passenger numbers (sold

seats) in Mar 16 were 8.5m, up 28pc on Mar 15 with a 94pc seat factor up 4 percentage points despite three days of ATC strikes which caused cancellation of over 500 flights. The rolling 12 month number was 106.4m up 18pc.

BERGAMO A court in Bergamo has

ruled that Ryanair does not owe Italy €9.4m in social contributions due to an EU law that allows it to put staff on the books in Ireland, where tax rates are lower.

EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc

said they agreed on the need for better intelligence-sharing in order to be "even more proactive and even more efficient in safety".

However, any additional security measures must be proportionate and risk-based, Officials have stressed the need to avoid simply "moving" vulnerable areas, for example by introducing screening at airport entrances.

STOBART Air, is up for sale, with bids likely to value it at between €60-65m.

Stobart operates the Aer Lingus Regional services, Stobart Air management, led by chief executive Sean Brogan, have tabled a bid to buy the airline as the battle for control heats up.

The airline was previously known as Aer Arann.

DUBLIN Airport will host Skyscanner’s flight search technology on its app. Skyscanner is to provide Dublin Airport with data through its Travel Insight tool from 50m monthly visitors giving the airport infomration on passengers’ planning and search preferences RYANAIR recovered all its passengers’ bags that had been left in Zaventem on the day of the bomb attacks there and repatriated them, something no other airline did.

TAP Portugal announced its new regional start-up carrier TAP Express operating with a 17 aircraft fleet, eight of which are ATR 72 operated by White Airways and nine Embraer E190s operated by Portugalia, KENYA

has scrapped plans for a new terminal building at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta airport due to financial pressures

RYANAIR

launched its biggest ever winter schedules from both Birmingham and Leeds Bradford.

DUBAI will start to levy airport fees from

July 1 of AED35 or €8.40.

D

ublin Airport reported 2.1m passengers in March, up 17pc.

Cross-channel was up 12pc to 850,000, mainland

Europe routes up 20pc to 1m, transatlantic routes up 38pc to 181,000, ME/ Africa/ Asia up 2pc to 64,000, and domestic up 20pc to 8,000.

Connecting passengers

were up 71pc to 51,000 meaning Dublin originated transatlantic traffic was up 34pc to 155,500. The top three transfer destinations are Boston, New York JFK and Chicago O’Hare.

Transatlantic traffic connectors were up from 11pc to 14pc and the average daily number of connectors was up from 266 to 440..

Arrival hall revamp D

Runway and Control Tower to follow at Dublin

Rendering of the new arrivals hall at Dublin airport ublin Airport is investing €10 m to transform the Arrivals Hall and façade of Terminal 1.

Renovations include new flooring, a replacement ceiling, the removal of desks currently situated in some window areas to allow natural light in and a new look to the front of Terminal 1.

Once complete, all restaurants will be located in one area while the Tourist Information Office, Bus, Travel and Information Desk will be grouped together to make the floor layout more user friendly and intuitive, the airport says.

Enabling works are set to begin later this year so that construction can start in 2017 on a new runway.

The 3,110 metre runway will be built 1.6km north of the existing main runway and is expected to be deliv-

I

ered in 2020. Dublin Airport is investing in the region of €320m in this multi-faceted project which will comprise multiple contracts and packages of works. In the Commission for Aviation Regulation Determination of 2014, the capital allowance for the new runway was €247m.

The runway was first given the green light in 2007 and aviation bosses are now examining how to overturn planning restrictions on take-offs and landings between 11pm and 7am which would affect two of the busiest hours of the day - 6am7am for departures and 11pm to midnight for arrivals.

The second condition restricted the average number of take-offs and landings at the airport between 11pm and 7am to 65. At the time the average was already 72.

The crosswind runway is retained in the latest version of the plan.

Planning permission for a new air traffic control tower at Dublin Airport was granted to the Irish Aviation Authority in 2010 for an 87-metre-high control tower. The 23-storey structure would stand taller than Liberty Hall and it would also be taller than a planned 19-storey skyscraper set for Dublin’s docklands. It is estimated that the tower could be in place by December 2019.

Experts are examining whether a “remote tower”, which uses camera technology from another location, could be used at Dublin Airport, although the IAA seems sceptical.

The Commission for Aviation Regulation in a 2011 Determination of aviation terminal services charges of €48.4m for the tower.

NATIONAL FLEET UP TO 1,218

reland had 1,218 registered aircraft with 505 operating on Irish Air Operator Certificates.

The number of aircraft operated by the main Irish AOC holders stands at: Ryanair 335, Aer Lingus

46, ASL Aviation Group 33, Norwegian Air International 32, CityJet 18 and Stobart Air 16.

There were 10 fixed wing and 3 helicopter AOCs in effect. 9,069 flight crew licenses were in

issue of which 85pc were commercial. 1,421 maintenance engineers were licenced or approved, 358 air traffic controllers and 79 radio officers.

Approximately 1,200 people were security certi-

fied by or on behalf of the IAA (screeners, access control persons, vehicle examiners, patrols and surveillance at airports).

So far, in excess of 1,800 drones have been registered.

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THE FLYING COLUMN

Aviation with Gerry O’Hare

DUBLIN AIRPORT has awarded

the Spanish company CLH Group a contract to Design, Finance, Build, Operate and Transfer (DFBOT) the aviation fuel storage facility at the airport. CLH Group is investing €40m in a suite of services which will ultimately increase the existing aviation fuel capacity six fold. The contract comprises the construction of three additional tanks capable of storing 15m litres of aviation fuel The three-year project starting this May includes the commissioning of a fuel hydrant system around Pier 4 at the end of T2 and the building of fuel hydrant systems to other airport piers. Office and service buildings, fuel pumping stations as well as aircraft fuelling unit loading areas are also part of the redevelopment of the site. The current 5.3 acre aviation fuel facility is 44 years old.

Norwegian welcomed the removal of regulatory hurdles on Cork-Boston route

Cork-Boston back

C

US regulator says there is no legal basis for refusal

ork-Boston took one step further to becoming a reality when the US Department of Transportation issued a show cause order concerning Norwegian Air International, the Irish-flag subsidiary of Norwegian Air Shuttle.

It said the application appears to meet DOT’s normal standards for award of a permit and that there appears to be no legal basis to deny Norwegian’s application.

Bjørn Kjos of Norwegian said a final approval, based on the Open Skies Agreement “ will be win-win for consumers and the economy on both sides of the Atlantic. It will allow Norwegian to expand our U.S.

T

operations.

1.

“Our continued presence in the US will create thousands of jobs and generate tens of millions of dollars of economic activity for the Group’s US destinations.”

DOT’s show cause order states that, “based on the record as a whole, as well as its consultations with the Departments of Justice and State,” it feels “ the provision in the US-EU Agreement that addresses labour does not afford a basis for rejecting an applicant that is otherwise qualified to receive a permit.”

It noted Norwegian’s application led to an extensive number of filings that were submitted throughout the

course of the case, both in support of and opposition to the application.

The Department said the legal and regulatory points raised by the parties reflected the novel and complex nature of the case and says it took the unprecedented step of formally consulting two agencies with special expertise on international law, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel and the Department of State to solicit their views.

The order is now open for public comment by interested parties. The Association of Flight AttendantsCWA promises to vigorously oppose this move during the comment period

ARAN ISLAND CONTRACT UP AGAIN

he Office of Government Procurement, on behalf of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, published a contract notice on April 1st, pre-advertising the tender for the subsidised air services to the Aran Islands.

The process was terminated last October, “after the previous tender process encountered problems and was abandoned.”

“The new tender specifies that the service must operate from Inverin, which is currently used by Aer Arann, who also owns

the facility.”

But the Office moved to correct three inaccuracies: n comments that the Request for Tender published, favours one type of aircraft over another is completely inaccurate. EU Law strictly prohibits the tender specification discriminating in favour of a particular aircraft or service provider. The limitations placed on the type of aircraft tendered are dictated solely by the minimum seating requirement, the ability to carry luggage and the infrastructure at both the island and

MAY 2016 PAGE 31

mainland aerodromes. n comments stating that the Request for Tender has requested a lesser minimum number of flights than is currently contracted is inaccurate.

There is no change. n comments stating that the Request for Tender has imposed a limit on the amount of luggage that can be carried is inaccurate. No such limit is imposed. The Request for Tender includes a requirement for a minimum luggage capacity of 10kg per passenger.

Islanders have com-

panied that fixed pricing, with increased to €40.25 for a return ticket for residents and €60 for tourists.

“We are still adamant it is a fixed wing air service we want at a reasonable price and we are concerned they are allowing the ticket price to be increased to a very high amount”, said Cathy Ní Ghóill from the Save our Air Service Committee.

The contract notice values the tender at up to €3.6m and it will be awarded as one contract and will not be divided into lots.

AMERICAN Airlines CEO Doug Parker said American has not considered deploying its A321 transcontinental aircraft featuring lie flat seats beyond cross-country routes from New York JFK to Los Angeles and San Francisco. Citing the “fantastic product”, Mr Parker said he is not sure if the product would work in other markets. “You need a very high concentration of people who are willing to pay for that product.”

CARTRAWLER, the world’s

biggest online travel technology platform, has announced a landmark partnership with Shannon Airport to provide passengers with direct online access to a range of ground transportation solutions from Shannon including car rental, taxi, shuttle, and private transfer, and is the first of its kind for any Irish airport.

UCD Europe's first Masters in Aviation Fi-

nance was launched at UCD Smurfit School

COBALTAir said that it plans to launch its flight schedule from Cyprus on June 1 including flights to Dublin as well as London, Paris, Manchester, East Midlands, Glasgow, Cardiff, Beirut, Tel Aviv, Tehran, Athens, Thessaloniki, Heraklion and Chania.

ASL’s application for a weekly B737-700

service Paris CDG-Shannon-Providence Rhode Island May-Sep 2016 is still outstanding despite no opposing comments.

CITYJET and Export Development

Canada reached an up to US$192.5m financing agreement for CRJ900s.

CORK airport passenger figures are up

10.5pc for the first three months of the year on the back of 12 new route announcements in recent months,

zVLM will close its 4w Waterford-Birm-

ingham route from May 2. The 11w WaterfordLuton services will continue.

FLYBE

is reported to be in line to pick up Heathrow slots previously used by Virgin Atlantic's regional airline Little Red.

RYANAIR will see a €10-20m hit in

January-March due to the ATC strikes and the Brussels attacks, according to Michael O’Leary.

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€ €

MAY 2016 PAGE 32

THE FLYING COLUMN

ALDUS Denmark-based Nordic Aviation

Capital has agreed to buy Philip Bolger’s Shannon-based Aldus Aviation, which manages a fleet of 30 Embraer E-jets. NAC focuses on regional aircraft, mainly turboprop, serving 40 customers worldwide.

Aviation with Gerry O’Hare

LUTON Airport promised passengers

some of the fastest connections to and from central London as it announced plans for a £200m light rail (tram) link to Luton Airport Parkway train station with transfers taking than 5 minutes enabling passengers be in St Pancras in 30 minutes.

UNITED Airlines has dropped plans to

buy 24 slots from Delta Air Lines at Newark Liberty International Airport.

VIRGIN Atlantic’s codeshare deal with Flybe is to include Knock-Manchester.

BELFAST International Airport will receive power from a 4.84MWp off-site solar farm run by Lightsource Renewable Energy.

IMMIGRATION Chief Inspector of English Borders and Immigration David Bolt found that of 50 sample cases studied at Manchester Airport, only 10 travellers who raised suspicions were quizzed by border guards.1.

AUSTRIAN Airlines is set to recruit

160 new pilots and 400 flight attendants as it expands bilateral air traffic between Austria to Germany on routes currently operated by Lufthansa. Austrian will also add 2 A320s to its existing fleet of 29 A320-family aircraft.

Brussels Airport (Zaventem) aims to be fully operational by end of June. CEO Arnaud Feist told Le Soir "But it will be a basic service; the facilities will not be fully renovated. We will reflect on the terminal's future and therefore probably won't restore it identically”.

AIR FRANCE has made fresh cost-

cutting proposals to pilots' unions that would see an increase in the number of flying hours and more flexibility in return for a share of the resulting productivity gains.

SAS Scandinavian Airlines share price rose 7.2pc following a report that Deutsche Lufthansa AG is in talks about buying a stake.

SUNEXPRESS Germany is to reduce its scheduled seat numbers in the Germany-Turkey market by approximately one quarter.

KEFLAVIKAirport

reported passenger traffic growth of 26pc in Jan 16, 41pc in Feb and 42.5pc in Mar. Transit passengers accounted for 21pc of the total.

AER LINGUS will be moving from Terminal E at Boston to Terminal C (mainly JetBlue) from May 2.

RYANAIR launched its Cork winter

2016 schedule with 3 new winter services to Las Palmas (1 pw), Malaga (2 pw) and Tenerife (1 pw) with 9 routes in total including a 4 x daily service to London (Stansted 3, Gatwick 1), which will deliver 11pc more capacity, over 40 weekly flights and 850,000 passengers

Hans Dyhrfort General Manager SAS Europe, Hans Asaa. former Country Manager Ireland (retired) and Alan Sparling SAS Manager Ireland pictured at the event to commemorate fifty years of SAS Scandinavian Airlines service in Dublin,

S

Anniversaries SAS celerbate 50 years flying to ireland

AS celebrated 50 years flying at Dublin Airport . The airline has carried 4.5m passengers on its three routes between Dublin, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo since it started services on April 1 1966..

“We’re very proud of our half century partnership with SAS who are Dublin Airport’s longest serving

foreign carrier and we’d like to congratulate them on reaching this major milestone,” said Dublin Airport Managing Director Vincent Harrison”.

The SAS service was interrupted for over a year from November 1977 until February 1979 when its Manchester-Dubling rights were revoked by London over a dispute regarding BMA's Bimringham-

Copenhagen rights.

BEA/BA and subsidiaries have operated since 1957, also with gaps, and there were some wartime flights by BOAC. Iberia offered the first non westbound jet service out of Dublin. The Duiblin office was headed bup by Con Howard. The first Iberia service was on May 3 1964, just once per week.

Aer Lingus operated

B720s on DublinHeathrow on a scheduled daily basis in the peak of 1962 and has a better claim to have operated the first non westbound jet services from Dublin.

Joe Walsh had a weekly seasonal charter series Dublin to Rome using Middle East Airlines Comets.

he Irish Aviation Authority accounts show Ireland has one of the lowest en route cost service providers in Europe.

Gate-to-gate financial cost effectiveness was 24pc more efficient than the European average and IAA gate-to-gate costs have increased by just 2.9pc over the last eight years compared to an estimated in-

crease of 4.7pc in the European average.

En route overflights were up 5.5pc to 318,000, terminal commercial traffic up 6.0pc to 228,000 movements and North Atlantic Communications up 5.3pc to 443,000.

En route overflight charges were down 3.3pc while other charges were unchanged. The average number employed was 655,

up from 649.

Staff costs for the year were €86.0m, an average of €131,000 of which 25pc related to pensions costs.

IAA is one of the most productive air navigation service providers in Europe. IAA’s en route customer charge for 2016 of €29.67 is, once again, one of the lowest in Europe.

IAA reported a 13.2pc rise in operating profits to

€33.6m on a turnover of €183.4m in 2015, up

CI Europe’s ownership survey of European airports claimed 41pc of European airports, 205 airports, now have private shareholders,

up from only 22pc in 2010.

Just under 39pc of these airports (79 airports) have full private ownership, while 61pc (126 airports) are ‘public-private partner-

ships’ involving a combination of private and public shareholders.

Airports with private participation now handle close to 75pc of passenger

T

IRISH OVERFLIGHTS ARE CHEAPER

A

3.3pc. Profit for the year after tax was €24.8m. In line with the improvement, the IAA also announced the payment of a €7.43m dividend (30pc of profit after tax) to the State shareholder, an increase of 13.7pc.

Net assets at year-end were €130.8m boosted by €18.4m other income,

PPP AIRPORTS 75pc OF TOTAL

traffic.

This reflects the fact that smaller regional airports tend to be structurally unprofitable.

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MAY 2016 PAGE 33

€

DESTINATION IRELAND

SCIENCE GALLERY An exhibition at Science Gallery Dublin explores the future of farming. Science Gallery attracted 404,425 visitors in 2015 and is Ireland’s 14th most popular visitor attraction.

SHEEN Falls Lodge in Kenmare is offering a 25 Year Anniversary Package throughout April to celebrate the hotel’s 25th anniversary.

Dubai Duty Free Irish Open trophy tour of LOOP HEAD Lighthouse reopened

yesterday.

Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland; Joan O’Shaughnessy, Vice Chairman of Tourism Ireland; Ambassador; Michael Collins, Irish Ambassador to Germany; Anita Gackowska and Kevin Cullinane of Cork Airport, on the Tourism Ireland stand at ITB Berlin

Eyes on Germany

N

Tourism Ireland wants to increase market share

iall Gibbons, CED of Tourism Ireland says Germany will be the key to future growth in inbound tourism to Ireland.

“We have 0.5pc of the global share of the German market, that’s something we hope to grow to 1pc for the next number of years.”

“For Germany, their relationship with us strong and existing customers with a good relationship are coming to the industry.”

“Europe has seen the powerhouse driving Irish tourism. France, Germany and also secondary markets like Netherlands and Spain have seen incredible growth over the last few years.”

He says the most positive outcome of reason tourism growth is that Ireland’s market share has increased from all of the main markets.

“Our share of US businesses into Europe is 10pc. One in ten dollars spent in Europe comes to Ireland, a phenomenal figure when you consider the competition from France, Italy, Spain, Britain and elsewhere.”

“Last year, US markets here improved 50pc more than they did in Mainland Europe. British travellers to Ireland grew 50pc more than they did to mainland Europe and European inbound grew at five times the rate of intra European travel. There is a lot to be very positive about.”

“Air access is improving all the time. We will have more than 500,000 seats a week during the summer months. Tourism Ireland is working very closely with airports and

Niall Gibbons of Tourism Ireland airline.”

“Ireland’s growth was far greater than that, our market share has grown. When you look back on the past five years, in the Britain market we have seen an increase of 20pc, Mainland Europe 38pc, from North America and Canada 51pc and from long haul markets such as Australia and China 66pc.

“Exchange rates have been much in our favour over the past few years.

Consumer confidence in our main markets has increased, particularly in the United States.

“I never imagined that will still go from strength to strength in North America. We got a 14pc increase from the United States and Canada.

The season that is looking good for the year ahead, we still have that, but the stock market have taken major dip and people are feeling a bit poorer.”

“We are getting a very receptive

feedback from the United States, and there is a great opportunity to grow.

For years we had no access in the West Coast of the United States, now we have two pair cities, Los Angeles and San Francisco.”

Hie said Britain, our biggest market, “is in great recovery mode over the last few years. Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham are seeing an additional 10,000 per week and healthy competition between Ryazans and Ader Linguas.

He cited one big worry: uncertainty about the UK referendum. If they vote to exit the EUH questions will need to be answered about the common travel industry.”

Commenting on the security situation he said Ireland is seen as a safe haven destination, which is driving additional business.

Britain’s APED has helped move tourism traffic to Ireland. “You just have to look at what’s happening in Britain at the moment. Each passenger pays €26 in tax, before you starting paying your ticket and that’s a major competitive advantage for Ireland.”

And while currency is helping bring visitors to Ireland, in the United States market, a 30pc change in currency has a huge impact on Tourism Ireland’s marketing spend.

He warned that tour operators were wary of rising hotel prices. There is certainly very strong feedback from UK that, in the downturn, the operators came back into the market and helped us, they now feel that, we are squeezed out.

FUNDING €1m funding was allocated to festivals and events organised by Fáilte Ireland under its 2016 programme.

CORKCounty Council and the Ring of

Cork launched their Thinking Green, Think Clean anti-litter awareness campaign.

Dundrum on Ice is open from now until April 3, open daily from 10am to 9pm.

WATERFORD The second County

Life, Country Living showcase takes place at Curraghmore House and Gardens, Portlaw, Co Waterford on June 12.

AWARD The Guinness Storehouse’s Paul Carty was the popular recipient of the President’s Award at the IHF conference in Killarney.

LOFTUS HALL Unusual anniversary of the month: The haunted Loftus Hall on Hook Head, Co Wexford is to celebrate its 666th anniversary with a restored walled garden, new interactive Visitors Centre and the Raymond Le Gros Norman Festival.

CENTER PARCS were granted

permission by Longford County Council for the development of the €233m Center Parcs holiday village in Ballymahon. Planning application details here.

ITIC prepared a briefing paper on Brexit (an abbreviation of British Exit) saying it could have far-reaching consequences for Irish tourism if passed. A paper prepared in London this week stated that border and customs controls would be installed on the borders of the six counties should the exit side win June 23.

HERITAGE Island launched their programme for 2016 including a new website which profiles member attractions and events, tour ideas and a new ticket shop.

KATHRYN Thomas’s Pure Results

Bootcamp is to open in a second location in Parknasilla in Sneem, Co Kerry from April and May in a second location to be confirmed from June to September 2016. Last summer’s bootcamp was on the Beara peninsula.

BLITZ Twenty tourism companies took part in the Tourism Ireland sales blitz to Chicago, Boston and New York meeting with more 200 travel agents and 80 travel and lifestyle journalists. Alison Metcalfe, Tourism Ireland’s Head of North America said her ambition for 2016 is to grow visitor numbers from the United States by a further 7pc.

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MAY 2016 PAGE 34

GLOBAL VILLAGE

ETIHAD How long does the ferry take

from Circular Quay to Manly and other choice questions were posed by quizmaster Ricky Dunn at an agents table quiz in the trendy Odeon venue in Harcourt Street, Dublin by Etihad and Visit Australia

TRAVELPORT CEO Gordon Wilson said GDS and agents are an ecosystem which is co-dependent, ourselves and the travel agents. The move to mobile has meant consumers want more in their own hands to be empowered which is why we have made the investment in MTT and additional content.

That is not anti travel agent, that is pro travel agent, because it enables them to get into that channel because they could never afford to get into that channel on any scale on their own.

CRUISESFORYOU Pamela

Brownlee of Flyaway Travel in Ballina launched her new cruise brand Cruisesforyou with a programme of events that included a live broadcast between 11am and 1pm on Mid West radio.

AMADEUS and Virgin Australia extended their partnership to distribute airline’s full content.

WENDY Wu Tours trade incentive: Book a tour flying with Emirates before March 31 to be in with a chance of winning one of three Debenhams/House of Fraser vouchers.

CABFORCE announced an integrated taxi and transfer partnership with Hogg Robinson Group.

COSMOS Tours & Cruises and luxury

river cruise line, Avalon Waterways has broadened the trade sales strategy to include the north of Ireland.

CLIA Pól Ó Conghaile, Donal Corkery and

David O'Beirne of the Irish Independent, won the best use of digital media at the CLIA Ireland and Britain cruise journalism awards for online and video reviews on Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas and Silversea's Silver Cloud for #TravelTV elements.

SKAL National AGM of the SKAL Clubs of Ireland was held in the Radisson Hotel, Ennis Road, Limerick 1

CASSIDY

Travel opened a new travel shop located in the ILAC Centre. The design of their ninth shop is based on their TravelShops in the Pavilions Swords and Liffey Valley Shopping Centres in the Dublin suburbs. The new TravelShop team will be managed by Janis Coulter

TRAVELPORT celebrated the fact that 152 airlines have now signed up for the tech company’s flagship product Rich Content and Branding BA and American Holidays are inviting

agents to enter a competition to join seven mega-fams across the USA. Agents should register bookings made to the USA made with BA and American, complete the Megafam airlines badges and pass them to the USA

Inside the Travel Business

Pat Dawson, Cormac Meehan and Martin Skelly briefing travel media after the AGM of the ITAA

Meehan’s mission N

New ITAA president wants to increase membership

each region to assess their interests and concerns. I want to know what you want out of membership.

This year is going to be one of the most important years for the travel industry in Ireland and in Europe with the implementation of the European directive. We need to ensure to whatever framework the legislators put on this legislation that it actually is relevant in the Irish environment.

“I want to re-personalise the business and promote inclusiveness. We are all very much owner managers, we should know every heartbeat in our businesses, the consumer will be a lot happier when they witness that level of attention.

“Last month I was speaking to a number of our members on different days. Almost each one was dealing with a problem that one of their clients had encountered, they ranged from a mugging in Barcelona, a broken leg in a ski resort, food poisoning in New York and bereavement at home! Quite a varied job description, but it is called customer service and we are very good at it.

“Individually we are concerned about our margin - that's what pays the overhead and that's how we live.

“We must learn that despite commission overrides ITAA PRESIDENTS and incentives, we must keep an eye 1970 Michael Kelly 1996 PJ Brennan on the margin. If 1972 Louis Byrne 1998 Gerry Benson some suppliers can 1974 Con Neenan 2000 Fergus Kilkelly afford to sell for 1978 Andrew McKenna 2002 Tony Brazil nothing just to get 1980 Michael Kelly 2004 Michael Doorley cash flow, we can1982 Michael Doorley 2006 James Malone not and should not 1984 Jim Loftus 2008 Jim Vaughan engage in that dan2010 Pat Dawson 1986 Con Horgan gerous pastime.

1988 Eugene Magee 2012 Clare Dunne “Participation 1990 Tony Brazil 2014 Martin Skelly it's not what the 1992 Jim Sharkey 2016 Cormac Meehan ITAA can do for 1994 Gerry Benson

ewly elected president of the Irish Travel Agents Association Cormac Meehan says he intends to grow association membership by 20pc during his term in office.

“The ITAA is a professional membership organisation - not a consortium: we lead, we represent and we educate. We are not there to get better commission deals, we are there to defend the member in the event of commercial abuse, we are there to provide a forum for internal discussion between members, we are there to be a source of information on the myriad of compliance and legal issues we face on a daily basis. I would like to see us using this more efficiently and recognising it as a significant value proposition of membership.

“I aim to revitalise our regional structure, to grow membership gradually by promoting fellowship, networking and mutual support. In the ITAA we have no conflict of interest - the members pay us and we serve them - period. Each of us on the Board come from a region, I would like to see the regions revitalised but to do that we need the input of each region. Over the coming months, we will be engaging in discussions with

you but what you can do for the ITAA. Together we are strong, we can lobby and influence. Ireland is small country, we are all local, we can talk to our local councillors and our local TDs and MEPs to influence policy, if David Cameron can do a deal for the UK with the EU, surely with the voice of the ITAA we can influencers and advocates on behalf of our members. Remember, we must speak with one voice, with consistent policies and views. Each regional representative on the Board is awaiting your requests for information, for matters that you would like to see raised at our frequent Board meetings.

“As I travel around the country, I enjoy calling in to visit members and they always have a small matter or issue to raise. Don't be shy, get it off your chest.

“Recruit a member. Retrieve an old member. Reactivate an existing member.”

Suppliers are good to us, every booking counts and let's work together. Suppliers, don't take the hump because we do not use you. There can be good reasons and perhaps, in spite of incentives, we do not like to put all our eggs in to one basket. Suppliers should, like us, respect even your smallest customers. Next time you get a travel publication in, look at the faces on the fam trips, at the golf outings and product launches - same old, same old. Spread it around.” n The ITAA’s final board meeting of Martin Skelly’s presidency showed a €45,000 surplus, showing that the finances of the Association have been turned around in four years by about €100,000 from a €50,000 deficit.

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Inside the Travel Business

MAY 2016 PAGE 35

GLOBAL VILLAGE

FINLAND Pat Dawson gave a well re-

ceived presentation to the Finnish travel agents body SMAL in Dublin on dynamic packaging and how the travel trade in Ireland responded to the collapse of the traditional charter market.

RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL

Tourism businesses, organisations and initiatives around the world are now being invited to submit an entry into the World Responsible Tourism Awards at WTM London.

Conor Healy photographing the new President of the Irish Travel Agents Association Cormac Meehan being handed the presidential chain by outgoing president Martin Skelly after the ITAA AGM in Dublin

Family business

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Cormac Meehan;s father founded agency

ormac Meehan from Bundoran was elected as the only nominee he will be elected unopposed at the April 7 AGM at the Ballsbridge Hotel, Dublin 4. to succeed Martin Skelly as president of the ITAA. Cormac is currently a board member of the ITAA and would become the first to be based in Ulster Leinster has provided 14 presidents to the association, Munster three and Connacht one, although past presidents Andy McKenna and Eugene Magee were both born in Ulster.

“I grew up in an owner-driven business - people did not book or

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travel with Aer Lingus or Joe Walsh Tours - they booked and travelled with Sean Meehan, my late Father.

“He was an Auctioneer. People were forced to emigrate at that time to make a living and survive, he was charged with selling their houses or land. They did not know where to buy a ship or travel ticket to the USA. John Mullaney and the late, Jim Gannon in Sligo, both Shipping Agents, persuaded my late Father to get into the travel business. He got his IATA license in 1958.

“I took over the business in 1987 after my Father's sudden death, I resigned a third level lecturing position,

UNIWORLD TO HOST ITAA CONFERENCE

reparations for the 2016 ITAA annual conference, to be hosted by Uniworld on a rivercruise ship on the Danube, were being finalised as we went to press.

Cormac Meehan addressed the issue of holding the conference abroad after his election as president of the ITAA. “I would like to encourage as many people as possible to go to a conference whether it is at

home or abroad.”

If it is sustainable to do it at home it will be done at home. I talked to Fahy’s in Galway and their big issue is that it costs them an extra day each way to go to a conference if it is abroad.

We have to decide what is the purpose of the conference. Primarily it is a networking event. It has to be provided at a level that is affordable and accessible to our members.

Our analysis is that

there is very little difference between the cost of having it at home or abroad but it is reliant on sponsorship. To achieve the level of sponsorship necessary to sustain it at home would be a big ask at the moment.

I am not saying it is not a desirable event.

The last time we had it at home was in Portlaoise.

It was a one day event.

People came and went.

The feedback form it was not very positive.

moved home and got married to my wife Maureen and 29 years we are still in Bundoran, the surfing capital of Western Europe, in a very local, personalised and attentive business serving a local and highly discerning market segment.

“They rely on our knowledge, judgement, expertise and advice that has been built up over 60 years.

“The travel business was and is a very personal business and I can assure you, it is in my blood. My ancestors on my late Mother's, the McKeons nee Gordon's, side owned Corballis House at Dublin Airport.”

TRAVELPORT acquired their third party distributor, Galileo Japan. EasyJet and Travelport announced a new long-term agreement. Skylord Travel, Travel with Lia, OneTwoTrip and Travel Loop are now using Travelport’s Universal Application Programming Interface.

MOVING ON Two popular figures in

aviation with travel trade and media are heading for the departure gates next week. Ann Marie Dalton is departing Turkish Airlines and Gillian Culhane is departing Aer Lingus.SuperBreak expanded its America short break programme.

TURKISH Martin Skelly called on the

Irish travel trade to support Turkish Airlines at an event where Turkish Airlines hosted 80 members of the trade at a special preview showing of Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice in Dundrum. Turkish say that they have had virtually no cancellations in the aftermath of last week’s bomb attack in Istanbul, but point about that 86pc of their passengers are connecting to points beyond Turkey, with Cape Town currently the big seller.

CORK airport hosted the trade to promote the nine new routes from the airport this summer. Picture shows Gillian Noonan and Carla Kidd, both of Trailfinders at the briefing at the Cork International Hotel. See more pictures here or connect with the album on Facebook.

BLUE INSURANCES Ian Dack

and Ciaran Mulligan invite agents to compete for a Volkswagen Polo with Blue Insurance.

First become one of the 12 monthly winners by selling as many travel insurance policies as you can, five policies sold each month gets you one entry into their monthly draw, the 12 monthly winners and a bonus winner win an iPad Mini compete in the grand finale in April 2017 in Dublin. Website.

AER LINGUS Yvonne Muldoon, ex Continental/United and Cartrawler has been appointed sales manager of Aer Lingus.

CELEBRITY Irish winners of the

Celebrity Loves Agents Awards include Michelle Barron of Stein Travel, Sinead Daly of Travel Counsellors, James Fleming of Sunway, Jennifer Greene of e-Travel, Eva Janichova of Cassidy Travel and Karen Whyte of American Holidays. Celebrity Cruises say the team in Tour America is the first to be fully trained up Celebrity Captains in their Cruising For Excellence training programme.

Uniworld style

CABFORCE was appointed taxi and transfer provider to OTA Etraveli.

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€ €

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MAY 2016 PAGE 36

WINDOW SEAT

Last month in numbers

138,000 Number of passengers using Dublin

W

A COLD NORTH SEA SHUFFLE

ords fail the North Sea us how To Blass ends his book. Which begs the 12,166 Flights per week from Dublin which question, what is the pint of writing will be available this summer a book about it if that is the case?

380 Number of Irish travel agents who are curBut that is being a bit unfair on rently members of the Club Royal scheme. himself. He does a good job of conup a grey and dour body of 141 Number of flights per week from Dublin air- juring water, “the Cooling Marshes, port to America this summer, (151 in September) Whalebone Marshes, Cliffe 108 Number of baggage options offered on each Marshes, Fobbing Marshes, Allhallows Marshes, Lee Marshes”.

Ryanair booking, now down to six We learn that the Dutch name €4bn Cost of MSC’s mega ship order from their dykes so that the closest to the STX France’s St Nazaire shipyard sea are wakende (waking) dykes; 1Metre: Clearance on Ovation of the Seas as it nav- the next are slapende (sleeping), “and in the event that these both fail igated the canal to the North sea from Papenburg as a hub in first three months of the year, up 60pc.

The Naked Shore: Of the North Sea

by Tom Blass (Bloomsbury)

only a dromende (dreaming) dyke stands between tsea and oblivion.”

Another tale (can this be true?) is that herring was once so important to life that it became name for money: Baltic herring were called easterlings in England. This eventually became a “sterling,” as tithes and taxes were paid with it.

He writes of “a flock of golden plover moved in from the sea, flying low with the sound of rustling skirts” And he describes a part of East

Anglia as “a quiet mecca for sailors who enjoy poking and nuzzling at its estuaries, the Stour, the Twizzle, the Deben and the Ore.” The fishermen and those who made their living from the sea are being replaced by less interesting retired people. It is as much a loss for the reader as for the author. And contributes to a loss of structure for the book. I am not sure where the opening trip on a cargo boat ends.

And another thing, regional accents is ALWAYS patronising.

Busman’s holiday: Cormac Meehan

Every month we ask a leading travel professional to write about their personal holiday experience. This month: Cormac Meehan, new president of the ITAA (with first lady Maureen Meehan).

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or many years the only time that suited my wife, Maureen, and I to take a break was late December to early January. For some unknown reason, flying through JFK and, again, through Hartsfield/Jackson in Atlanta, we always looked at the departure boards for some, apparently, exotic sounding locations. The one that caught our eyes was Jacksonville (JAX), Florida, and we promised that we would hit that airport the following year.

Hiring a car in Jacksonville was fun, in spite of the fact that it was in north Florida, there was a Deep South feel to the place with accents and Stetsons.

Heading down the coast we explored

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every lane in the vicinity of A1A and I 95 south as far as Miami.

Our favourite stretch of that part of US Interstate and Highway was between the very venerable historic city of Saint Augustine ( the oldest city in the USA ) and the most trendy Spring-break capital of Daytona Beach. I suppose it was a very early version of our very own Wild Atlantic Way and Maureen and I felt very much at home with the ocean surf and those wonderful Ron Jon surf shops playing the most atmospheric music of Jimmy Buffett's Margariteaville.

Just south of Saint Augustine on A1A we tended to stop at a great bikers bar and diner called the Sunset Grille, with a background of Don Henley tracks we gazed in awe at the range of Harleys and Honda Goldwings which were just as diverse as the ages of the bikers and their career backgrounds The Conch restaurant on Anastasia Island, just beyond the famous lighthouse, was another favourite with its private dining gazebos over the lapping Atlantic

View of St. Augustine from the top of the lighthouse on Anastasia Island

lagoon. We usually finished up at the lovely pink gin palace at the north end of Daytona Beach which had variously been branded as Hilton, Adams Mark or Marriott over the years.

Maureen and I will never forget giving up our place in a restaurant queue to a lovely elderly couple from Chicago who were anxious to dine early before a Frank Sinatra concert at the spectacular Ocean Centre in Daytona Beach.

We exchanged business cards and within two days they tracked us down to our hotel to invite us to their home at the Spruce Creek Fly-in Community, each home backed on to a runway capable of landing a 737 Boeing.

Their immediate neighbour was a

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

he demise of Shengen, gleefully reported in some London media, is not yet upon us and the travel community has reason to rejoice at that The threat may even be receding.

Petra Hedorfer, CEO of Germany;s tourism office, told Travel Extra at GTM in Magdeburg that she expected changes in border control this year to make things a lot easier for passengers, a rare piece of good news in the light of the return of

border checks to borders that have not seen a permanent presence by uniformed officers in several decades.

Travel Extra crossed the French and Belgian borders by land several times in recent weeks and is happy to report that the much feared broder delays have not happened.

But there is a long time to go before Schengen is stabilised once more.

While we have not noticed any delays at all, never mind long ones,

we did get stuck in a security queue of an hour and 40 minutes in Lyon airport in December.

Border controls wil not be going back to the old days anytime soon, nor is it likely we wil have the sort of barrier we had across the continent before the Berlin wall came down. But longer security queues and extra checks at the gate are almost certainly consequence of the current unrest. We will all be the poorer for it.

very young, slim, genial and competent pilot called John Travolta.

We joined them all for Dinner in the community clubhouse where our host insisted on taking up his usual chair at the corner of the table where he could survey all the room's occupants and entrants.

We exchanged Christmas and Thanksgiving cards for many years promising to return. We read of Fred's death years later as we spent some time in Chicago, he was a leader in the Holiday Inn hotel franchise in the USA for over 50 years.

My he rest in peace.

Our favourite spot for many reasons, as the song says is: "Somewhere on A1A"!

IN YOUR NEXT TRAVEL EXTRA: Available to Travel Agents or online June 20 2016

THE USA ISSUE Los Angeles new with Aer Lingus SOUTHERN BELLES Rivercruise

Page 037-038 pics 22/04/2016 11:34 Page 1

MAY 2016 PAGE 37

MEETING PLACE

Out and about with the Travel Trade

e Farrelly of Travel Caroline Crowley and Imelda Power of HefferMandy Walsh and Nadin ation of the Seas where nan’s Travel at an event to promote Iberia ExOv ard Counsellors on bo d agents press’s new 2w service from Cork to Madrid, Royal Caribbean hoste

Jodie McFeely, Lisa Ke arney, Karen Hefferna n and Jeff Collins of Best4 travel/Globe at the Iris h Travel Industry Trade Show at the D4 hotel,

nton of Sunway at the Anits Kelly and Mary De event during the Irish Spanish Tourist Board ow Sh Travel Industry Trade

Paul Sexton of Travelag ent.ie, Lee Osborne of Bookabed, Paul Daws on of Dawson Travel at the Spanish Tourist Board Trade Show event

y Department, Jo Ashle Claire Doherty of Travel ca eri Am r Tou of t Wrigh of New England and Liz w in Dublin sho ad Ro A US it Vis at the

Declan and Rosemary O'Connell of Lee Travel with Jeff Collins of Glo be Hotels/Best4travel on board Ovation of the Se as,

Charlotte O’Donoghue and Suzie O’Hara of Discover Travel at an event ito promote Iberia Express’s new service from Cork to Madrid

Yvonne O'Donoghue O'D onoghue Travel, Deirdre Sweeny of Su nway and Mary King of Travelsavers at the Bo okabed and A2Btransfe rs

lcon and Paula Smith of Fa Catherine Cinnamond nch lau n of the Seas pre Travel on board Ovatio event:

James Fleming of Sunw Andrea Power, Elaine Keating and Clodagh ay and Jennifer Callister of Royal Caribbean on bo Whelan of Falcon Travel on board Ovation of the ard Ovation of the Seas, Seas pre launch event:

Kaspars Kivlenieks and Carolline O'Toole of Fahy Travel, Ciara Sweeney of Corrib, Olivia Flanagan and Katrina McMullan of Navan Travel on board Ovation of the Seas

Brendan Barry of Discover Travel and Eamon Flanagan of Premair at the Irish Travel Industry Trade Show at the D4 hotel

John Galligan of John Galligan Travel and David O'Grady of e-travel at the Visit USA Roadshow in Dublin,

van Travel and Rebecca Siobhan Geraghty of Ca h Travel Industry Trade Kelly of MSC at the Iris Show at the D4 hotel,

Patricia Purdue of Ma ssachusetts and Jo As hley of New England at the Visit USA Roadshow in Dublin

y of e and Deirdre O'Mahon Rachel Crowley Dwan ria Ibe te mo pro to nt eve Heffernan’s travel at an from Cork to Madrid, e vic ser w ne s ss’ pre Ex

Page 037-038 pics 22/04/2016 11:35 Page 2

MAY 2016 PAGE 38

MEETING PLACE

n Travel. Emer McDerMary Fenton of Shando m of vel and Marie Grenha mott of McDermott tra nt eve TB Spanish Grenham travel at the

Clare Dunne of Travel Broker with Martin and Miriam Skelly at the Iris h Travel Industry Trade Show at the D4 hotel

Out and about with the Travel Trade

Maria Dilworth and Mary Lyne of Blackpool travel Mary Downes of Cassidy Travel and Cia ra Foley of Playtinum Travel at at an event to promote Iberia Expressâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new the Bookabed and A2 Btr an sfers event in the Dean service from Cork to Madrid Hotel

yle of Curragh Hugh and Caitriona Do Caroline O'Toole of Fahy Travel, Frances Grogan Andrea Mc de Show at Tra ry ust Ind vel the Irish Tra of Grogan Travel and Jackie Coakley of Shandon Travel at the D4 hotel travel at the Spanish Tb trade show event

Abbey Travel with John Devereux of American Holidays and Dave Con Horgan ofrmerly of the Irish Travel In- Hennessy of American Sky at the Visit USA at rt lpo vce Tra of illy Sinead Re the D4 hotel Roadshow in Dublin, dustry Trade Show at

Barry Walsh of Conco rde/JWT and Stephen Sands of Riviera Travel at the Irish Travel Industry Trade Show at the D4 hotel,

Spanish Tb and Laura Gonzalo Ceballos of the vel at the event to pro Barber of Shandon Tra vice, ser d dri Ma rk Co w ne mote Iberia Expressâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Pat Dawson, CEO of the ITAA and Niall McDonnell of Classic Collection at the Irish Travel Industry Trade Show at the D4 hotel

Dee Burdock of American Holiday, Jo Piani representing Kussimmee and Savannah and Gerry Boyle of Brand America at Visit USA Roadshow

Suzanne Reynolds an d Eba Jancichova of Ca ssidy Travel/Classic Re sorts at the Etihad and Visit Australia table qu iz in Odeon,

MulWalshe and Siobhain Grainne Caffrey, Clem usInd vel Tra h Iris the at holland of Lowcostbeds D4 hotel try Trade Show at the

Mayela Moage and Marek Maslowiec of Cassidy Travel/Classic Resorts at the Etihad and Visit Australia table quiz in Odeon, Dublin,

Lynda McCorry of Silver sea and Wendy Cameron of Superbrea k at the Irish Travel Ind ustry Trade Show at the D4 hotel

John Spollen of John Cassidy Travel, Carol Anne O'Neill of Worldchoice and Richard Cullen of Killiney Travel at the Visit USA Roadshow

rde/JWT and Stephen Barry Walsh of Conco at the Irish Travel IndusSands of Riviera Travel hotel, D4 try Trade Show at the

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