Travel Extra January 2018

R U ITALY STILL NUMBER ONE FOR MOONS O Y DE AER LINGUS SEATTLE THE NEXT STOP A R R T PE ESCORTED TOURS WHAT’S NEW PA The alternative Benidorm

Algarve with TUI

Fast paced Miami

IRELAND'S PREMIER SOURCE OF TRAVEL INFORMATION Free

DECMBER 2017/JANUARY 2018

VOLUME 23 NUMBER 1

Weddings & Honeymoons 2018

Brides Revisited

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JANUARY 2018 PAGE 3

NEWS

www.travelextra.ie

Planet perfect

Guide book publisher announces best in travel award

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onely Planet named Belfast and the Causeway Coast the Number One Region to visit in 2018.

The travel media company unveiled the accolade in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2018.

The lists contains their usual collection of surprises such as selecting Djibouti as the fourth best country.

Countries; 1 Chile, 2 South Korea, 3 Portugal, 4 Djibouti, 5 New Zealand, Cities: 1 Seville, 2 Detroit, 3 Canberra, 4 Hamburg, 5 Kaohsiung, Regions: 1 Causeway Coast, 2 Alaska, 3 Julian Alps, 4 Languedoc Roussillon, 5 Kii Pneinula, Best Value: 1 Tallinn, 2 Lanzarote, 3 Arizona, 4 La Paz, 5 Poland,

CHINA called on French authorities to take more action in protecting the safety of its visiting nationals after another mass robbery in Paris. In the latest incident a group of 40 tourists were tear-gassed and robbed in a car park.

CANCUN.com is seeking someone to

DESTINATIONS LINING UP FOR 2018

AGADIR Air Arabia are to commence 2w in winter

Dublin. Iceland tourism has trebled from this country.

and KLM (5 daily) competing with Aer Lingus.

resuming after brief hiatus.

AMSTERDAM Ryanair

MARRAKECH Ryanair

CYPRUS Year round ac-

MIAMI Aer Lingus’s marquee route started September and opened up Florida and cruise opportunities.

DOHA Marquee new destination for 2017 now visa-free.

HARTFORD Daily from

Aer Lingus since September 2016.

HONG KONG to be

served direct from Dublin for the first time by Cathay Pacific.

ICELAND New flights from

Belfast and increased service form

of travellers use peer to peer reviews when researching a trip, 33pc use voice search, using devices such as Siri or Amazon Echo and 50pc said the biggest pain point is time spent finding the best price. The survey indicated 54pc of business travellers add leisure days to a business trip, 53pc avoid hotels that charge for Wi-Fi and 57pc would be lost without their smartphone. When at the destination: they use an average of 14 different categories of apps when travelling.

SANDALS called claims by Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Brown that the resort group has been seeking to avoid its tax obligations “vicious, sustained and defamatory” and said Sandals Grande Antigua is the “most significant contributor to the economy”.

Noirin Hegarty, Niall Gibbons and John McGrillen

cess from Cobalt for the first time.

TRAVELPORT survey showed 85pc

NAPLES New Ryanair service commenced 2w in winter and continued through summer 2018.

PAPHOS New from Ryanair for summer 2018.

PROVIDENCE Norwe-

gian flights from four Irish airports.

MONTREAL Air Canada

SEATTLE Next to get a direct route from Dublin.

MUNICH Ryanair and Transavia now compete on a route dominated by Aer Lingus and Lufthansa.

to Croatia.

are joining Air Transat on the Montreal run, first explored in 1977 by Aer Lingus.

PHUKET New one-stop option via Istanbul from July

BOOK YOUR 2018 WEDDING ABROAD Choose to say ‘I do’ on a white sandy beach in Mexico or looking out to the Mediterranean in Greece or Spain.

TUI is a trading name of TUI Ireland Limited and is fully licensed and bonded by CAR T.O.021

SPLIT New Aer Lingus service STUTTGART Daily from

Ryanair, joining Aer Lingus.

NEWBURGH Norwegian flights from four Irish airports will be increased in 2018.

be the face of the brand for six months, with VIP access to clubs and activities, all living expenses, and being paid $60,000.

UAE

Foreign Ministry advised Emiratis against travelling to Lebanon, whether from the UAE or other countries. It follows similar warnings from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain in an escalation of the power struggle between Saudi and Iran in the region.

DEUTSCHE Bahn is to increase rail

fares between Berlin and Munich by 13.6pc on the ICE Sprinter service which will cut journey times between the cities by two hours to just under four hours.

ULURU Climbing Uluru (the former Ayers Rock) is to be banned from October 2018.

AMSTERDAM is stepping up measures against over-tourism and will enforce a new ban on ‘beer-bikes’ this week after years of complaints by locals about rowdy tourists getting drunk and disorderly while pedalling along its famous canals.

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 4

THE KNOWLEDGE Travel Extra Clownings, Straffan, Co Kildare (+3531) 2913707 Fax (+3531) 2957417 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 Sales Manager Paulette Moran paulette@bizex.ie t: +353 (0)1 291 3702 Accounts and Advertising: Maria Sinnott maria@bizex.ie Sunday Supplement & Online: Mark Evans markevanspro@gmail.com Chief Features Writer: Anne Cadwallader anne@travelextra.ie Contributors : Damian Allen damianjamesallen@ gmail.com Marie Carberry marie@travelextra.ie Carmel Higgins carmel@travelextra.ie Cauvery Madhavan cauvery@travelextra.ie Sean Mannion sean@grafacai.ie Ciaran Molloy ciarancmolloy@ gmail.com Catherine Murphy cathmurph@yahoo.com Aileen O’Reilly aileencoreilly@gmail.com

Travel Extra takes no responsibility for errors and omissions.

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Contact +353872551675 if you have difficulty getting Travel Extra.

CONTENTS

3 News Where to go, how much to pay 6 Hotels: News

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www.travelextra.ie

8 Postcards: News from the trade 12 Escorted Tours: More than a coach 22 Weddings: Behind the veil 26 Afloat: Explorer arrives

28 Flying: More A321s for LIngus 34 Global Village Inside the travel industry 44 Window seat: Our columnists 45 Pictures: Out and about

Selling weddings

round 4,000 Irish couples look abroad each year for their wedding arrangements. With an average cost of u8,000, a third of the u23,000 average they can spend on a wedding at home, it keeps costs down for the couple. It is also big business for the trade, with an average of 25 people attending a wedding abroad it means there is u50m worth of business out there for those selling flights, transfers and accommodation, not to mention a slice of the u32m spend on wedding packages.

There is commission to be made from wedding packages. Guest accommodation and travel, pre wedding and post wedding and guest activities, reconnaissance visits by the couple in advance and Wedmoons.

BUDGET It is all about budget. Within a few minutes of sitting down with your client you should have established how much they are willing to spend.

How many guests? Four star or five star? The average costs of a four star wedding abroad is u8,000 for the reception and for seven nights for bride and groom, but it can mount after that. If in doubt, sell from the top down. Your customers will soon tell you if that is not their budget.

KNOW your stuff.

Make sure your knowledge of the legals and documentation required is up to date. In France you have to be resident for 40 days, in Barbados you can arrive on the day of your wedding.

Wedding couple in Bologna, Italy is the most popular wedding venue abroad

MAKE it easy

for the couple so you will get the bookings.

Packages and oddons are easier to sell.

Most packages include photography, ceremony, flowers, music, video editing and planning support. The extras can include cakes, more time on or off site for couple and guests, and transport.

CHANGE their

thinking. Some brides are too cautious, they do not realise that five star luxury is only a few euro more. Pitch the romantic the sense of fairytale wedding created by an exotic venue and climate. Couples are looking for something different. Point out that getting married abroad invariably means less family politics, a more intimate ceremony and guaranteed weather.

gest number of enquiries are for Malta, followed

by Cyprus and Croatia.

Sunway says their most popular destinations are Egypt, the Caribbean, Las Vegas, New York and Mauritius. Generally weddings would be on a civil basis. Sunway’s Vegas product is very popular and very easy to organise. Couples get assistance with paper work and marriage registry.

GET local expertise or outside help. It is worth it. Selling a wedding can be a high maintenance operation.

The trade refers to controlling brides as Bridezilla, the ones who have high demands and tend to come back with complaints. In 80pc of cases the bride does all the planning but when the groom does the arrangements, the wish list can be even more taxing.

hire can SWITCH SELL: VENUE change the cost of the

Introduce destinations they never even thought about. Concorde’s big-

wedding dramatically.

Some hotels don’t charge extra for venue

hire, depending the number who are coming.

For instance they won’t charge for 60 guests, they will for 20 guests.

STRESS the value when wine is included.

Menus start at u15 but watch for the extras that come with u45-u50 menus, many Mediterranean hotels will provide beer and wine with the menu, with only spirits costing extra.

Planning an Irish wedding that could be a distinct advantage. Even if you do pay for wine, u5 a bottle is one third what they pay in Ireland.

CONFRONT

the negatives, that family may be unable to travel through old age or health (point out the convenience of direct flight destinations such as Malta), family traditions, the extra planning, the fact that couples feel it is too difficult and feel no control and wouldn’t know where to start. It is the agent’s job to brush over those obstacles and se-

cure the knowledge and contacts on the ground to reassure the couple.

Tempt them to talk and show evidence of your previous bookings through photos, videos and testimonials. Use social media and offer a clear uncomplicated package in your online material.

CRUISE Mention it is possible for captains to perform legal wedding ceremonies at sea sailing through international waters or on board a docked cruises ship in many venues. Cruise can offer the best value weddings and a ready made honeymoon.

STAY in touch.

Even if they don’t take a wedding package they may go on honeymoon with you. The point of contact is valuable. Of the 25,000 wedding a year in Ireland, 75pc of couples say they considered going abroad to go abroad and 48pc say they requested quotes.

Dreaming of winter sun?

Escape to the Algarve. Talk to your travel agent.

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 6

HOTELS

www.travelextra.ie

Capacity crunch

MORRISON Elena Baturina, at $1bn Russia’s richest woman , received €1.5m in dividend from the Morrison Hotel.

GIBSON Revenue at Dublin’s Gibson Hotel, bought in recent months by Dalata Hotel Group, rose 7pc to €15.39m while profits fell 60pc to €807,000.

RADiSSON Blu hotel at Dublin

Airport returned to profitability, with pre-tax profits of €737,393 and promised a range of capital projects.

CASTLEGROVE House, Co Donegal; Glenlo Abbey in Galway; Richard Corrigan’s Virginia Park Lodge, Co. Cavan; and Co Mayo’s Killadangan House are joining Ireland’s Blue Book bringing the total to 54.

DALATA

told investors that it hopes to add 8,000 bedrooms to its British portfolio over the next five to seven years. It wants to become the biggest operator of three- and four-star hotels in 20 British cities using its decentralised structure to gain an advantage over competitors Plans include a 300-bed hotel in Scotland. Dalata is aiming to take 10-15pc of the ma zket in 20 targeted cities, including Liverpool, Edinburgh, Cambridge, York and Oxford.

ASHFORD Castle unveiled a new own-brand 33-piece product range

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Dublin room shortage could turn around in 2022

rowe Horwath and Cushman & Wakefield predicted 4,000 new bedrooms in Dublin over the next five years and said demand will need to increase by 15pc if current profit and occupancy levels are to be maintained.

Aiden Murphy noted that the Dublin hotel sector has seen unprecedented growth over the last five years with average room rates up €47 and occupancy up 12 percentage points both contributing to an average rise in profit per room of €12,000.

These strong figures have been fuelled by the shortage of hotel rooms – with virtually no additional supply seen during this period.

In 2016, 5.6m hotel rooms were sold in the Dublin hotel market at 82% occupancy. With an anticipated additional 4,000 hotel rooms over the next five years and for the market to just maintain demand it will have to grow 15pc selling an extra 845k

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Aiden Murphy during the Crowe Horwath briefing

rooms by 2021.

A key demand factor over the last five years as being the growth in international tourist numbers. For example, figures released in the recent Crowe Horwath Annual Hotel Industry Survey show that US visitors hold 17pc of the Dublin market accounting for 1m rooms in 2016.

As the growth in US tourists is expected to flatten out, increased demand will need to come from the domestic market.

City centre hotels face increasing competition as 3,100 of the planned new 4,000 rooms, will be opened in the city centre.

Existing city centre hotels will have to react to new competition and

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implement regular room price strategy to compete within the expanded market and maintain average room rates of €146.

Increased competition from the new city centre supply is likely to impact the suburban Dublin market as lower room rates entice customers back into the city centre.

Jonathan Hubbard from Cusman & Wakefield outlined that 2017 has been a significantly quieter year in term of hotel transactions with only €87.5m worth of transactions occurring across 23 transactions, 60% below Q3 2016, predominately due to the slowdown of receivership and forced sales. The market has returned to a somewhat “normalised” level.

HOWE INVESTMENT

achel Howes the former MD of Booking.com Limited has taken an ownership investment in the Irish owned Great National hotel chain.

Rachel Howes helped to grow Booking.com, into a €70bn global brand and listing 1.4m

hotels in 226 countries.

Ms. Howes is also cofounder of HomeRez. com emerging holiday letting brand. Great National was formed in 2010 and is now Ireland’s fastest growing hospitality group with 65 hotels and resorts, with 4,500 hotel bedrooms.

With its head office in Ennis, Co. Clare, Great National is also Enterprise Ireland backed, directly employing over 860 people throughout group and hotel operations, and recently secured its first hotel management contract in England.

TRIVAGO TOP HOTELS

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rivago.ie named the top rated hotels in Ireland as selected by their online customers.

The award winners in five catergories were: 5 Star The Merrion in Dublin, ;2 The Killarney Park Hotel; 3 Hayfield Manor in Cork;

4 star Harvey’s Point in Donegal 2 The Ross Hotel in Killarney; 3 Strandhill Lodge Strandhill; 3 Star Killeen House & Rozzers in Killarney; 2 East Clare Golf Village

By Diamond Resorts in Bodyke; 3 The Ashe in Tralee;

Value for Money Malinbeg Hostel in Glencolmcille ; 2 Kilronan Hostel on Imishmore; 3 Avlon House in Carlow; Alternative The Tides Guest House in Ballybunion 2 Camp Junction House B&B in Tralee; 3 Avlon House in Carlow; .

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JANUARY 2018 PAGE 8

POSTCARDS FROM THE TRAVEL SCENE

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aul Nolan of Blue Air hosted a pre Hallowe’en excursion to Transylvania for Irish travel writers, showcasing the attractions of the district around Cluj which has 2w flights in winter and 3w in summer from Dublin airport.

The group flew into Bucharest, were guided on a city tour of Bucharest Old city centre, a meal at Manuc’s Inn, Caru cu Bere and then visited Peles Castle.

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ir Arabia invited an Irish delegation to celebrate the inauguration of Air Arabia’s twice weekly flights from Dublin to Agadir.

The flights will be utilised by Sunway for their holiday programme.

Picture shows Mahomed Oubaha, Senior Research Manager DIT Michael O’Dowd, Advisor to Enterprise Ireland, Derek Byrne, Phoenix FM, Dr. NIall Holohan, Arab-Irish Chamber of Com-

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opflight hosted a very enthusiastic group of travel agents on the slopes at the Ski Club of Ireland in Kilternan.

The group enjoyed Topflight’s hospitality and learned a thing or two about skiing.

By the end of the night some of the beginners were showing great potential.

Topflight host a mega fam in December.

The first winners of places on the Top-

Thanks to a tenuous connection with Vlad, the hilltop Bran Castle is now Romania’s top tourist attraction with 360,000 visitors a year.All the Drac-tac serves as a bit of a distraction from the real wonders of Transylvania, a spectacular natural park, UNESCO-listed fortified churches that are unique to the area, Saxon heritage cities, Gothic cathedrals from three religions, and stunning hilltop castles.

merce, Paddy Smyth, Fine Gael, Patric Baird, Northern Ireland Travel News, Ross Golden-Bannon, Pat Keenan, David Carpenter, Hungarian Ambassador to Ireland, Leo Powell, The Irish Field, Soha Gendi, Egyptian Ambassador to Ireland, Aileen O’Reilly, Travel Extra, Sandra Murphy, Irish Daily Mail, Saeed Al Shamsi, UAE Ambassador and Carmel Higgins, Dublin City Radio at Golf Du Soleil.

flight Ski fam trip were Donna Kenny of Cassidy Travel (pictured with Shauna Kelly of Topflight), Karen Armstrong of One World Travel, Eleanor McGivern of Traveller Secrets and Katherina Murray of Dawson Travel.

Topflight launched its winter ski route to Salzburg from Cork Airport, each Saturday commencing 30th December until 17th March.

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elegates to the 2017 ITAA conference in Porto were hosted by Centre of Portugal tourism in the days after the conference.

Their trip brought them to the Seminário Maior de Coimbra, Fatima, Tomar, and the surf haven of Nazaré in the sunshine. They were hosted by singer André Sardet at the Sapientia Books & Wine Hotel who performed his signature Foi Feitiço. Picture shows

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bu Dhabi Tourism and Culture ministry hosted the travel trade at an event to welcome the Irish Travel agents held in House of Leeson St, Tuesday October 24th.

The opening of the new Midfield Terminal at Abu Dhabi airport, the inauguration of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, this month, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and the Zayed National Museum are all expected to contribute to tourism growth.

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arian Benton (pictured) and Patricia Kenny of Map travel hosted a function to promote the Paradores hotel group.

The company was founded by Alfonso XIII as a means to promote tourism in Spain, with the first hotel opening in 1928 in Gredos (Ávila).

Now there are 94 hotels in castles, palaces, fortresses, convents, monasteries and other historic buildings, even a

Sean Healy of Lee Travel, Mary Lee of Newbridge Travel, Seamus Cosgrove of Cill Dara Travel, Bernie Colgan, Rita Cosgrove of Cill Dara Travel, Kathleen Carr, Eugene Fanning, Marian Benton of Map Travel, Dominic Burke of Travel Centres, Maria Jose Fernandes, Miriam Skelly, Bernie Burke, Clare Dunne, Maura Maloney of Dublin Airport Front row: Mary Lee Johnston, Eoghan Corry and Martin Skelly.

Oher attractions include Yas Island’s continuing evolution as a leading entertainment and lifestyle destination, Zayed and Sir Beni Yas Cruise Terminals, new museums soon to open in Al Ain, and the launch of hotels and theme park attractions opening in the capital,” he said. Picture shows Jane Dawkins two country Senior Trade Executive Abu Dhabi Tourism and Paul Counihan of Minor Hotels.

former prison. Prices vary according to category, room, region and season.

Paradores are classified as ‘Esentia’ monumental and historic hotels, ‘Civia’ - urban hotels, and ‘Naturia’ - hotels close to the coast and nature.

The Hostal de los Reyes Catolicos in Santiago de Compostela is considered to be one of the oldest continuously operating hotels in the world, and one of the finest Spanish Paradores.

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 9

POSTCARDS FROM THE TRAVEL SCENE

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Adventures, headed up in Ireland by John Grehan, hosted a group of travel agents on a tour of Vietnam and Cambodia.

Highlights included Saigon City tour on bikes, Cu Chi tunnels of emotional Vietnam war, Mekong delta cruise, then Cambodia - reborn country after Pol Pot/ Killing fields, amazing Angkor Wat temples and a floating village on Tonle Sap, ending with one night in Bangkok.

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ermot Merrigan of Irish ferries and his backing singers Ann Pye and Marie McCarthy won the best lookalike award at the Travel Centres Irish conference in the Park Hotel in Mullingar.

This 13th Travel Centres conference attracted 150 agency owners, managers, staff and supplier personnel from Ireland and overseas.

The Irish Ferries trio caught the fla-

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ohn McKibbin of Getabed was involved in the charity function for Outreach Moldova which was ably supported by the travel trade.

John is a director of the charity which helps orphans in Moldova with medicine, infrastructure and a pioneering nanny system, which involves sponsoring a personal helper for the orphans, known as nannies, they can be sponsored for u700 a year.

Picture shows Philip Airey of Sunway, Edel Flynn of Newbridge Travel, David O’Hagan of Donabate Travel, Susan Hegarty of Travel Counsellors, John Grehan of G2, Lynn Casey of Fahy Travel, Thomas O’Donohue of Strand Travel, Front row: Alper Kanburoglu of Turkish Airlines, Jackie Sheehan of Tropical Sky, Angela Walsh of Corporate Travel Management, Sharon Harney of Cassidy Travel and Jacinta McGlynn.

vour of the night’s entertainment with a session musicians who will complete a set in which they will accompany the world’s leading Freddie Mercury tribute artist in a homage to the group Queen Sponsors at the event, run by Dominic and Bernie Burke, included Aer Lingus, Amadeus, Blue Insurance, Celebrity Cruises, Crystal Ski, Hertz, MSC Cruises, Intrepid Travel, Royal Caribbean, Travelport and Turkish Airlines

The charity was established by Suzanne O’Connell 17 years ago and has helped thousands of intellectually and physically disabled orphans to live a better life. The charity is Irish funded and managed.

Picture shows Barry Walsh of Concorde/Joe Walsh Tours, John McKibbin of Getabed, Sandra Corkin and JulieAnne Vaughan of Oasis Travel and Ciaran Mulligan of Blue Insurances.

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lue Insurances’ third win a car competition will run from November 2017 to November 2018 in association with Toyota Sandyford.

Every five policies sold each month automatically secures an entry into the monthly draw. Members of the Irish Travel Trade or Insurance Brokers can also avail of one bonus place at the Grand Final by visiting Toyota Sandyford and requesting a test drive using

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he Spanish Tourist Board hosted a group of agents to showcase Seville, the Lonely Planet travel guide designated as the number one city to visit in 2018.

Home the Alcázar Palace , Seville has grown into one of Spain’s iconic tourist locations especially since 1992, when the Guadalquivir River, which had been diverted around the city for centuries, was brought back into its original river-

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here were 600 Irish from the outbound and industries among the 51,500 travel professionals from 182 countries and regions around the world and 3,000 international media at World Travel Market, buzzier than it has been in recent years.

The speaking events addressed contemporary issues such as over-tourism and there was a lively morning of discussion on sustainable tourism.

the code DontRenewUnlessItsBlue.

Each of the 12 monthly winners as well as the one bonus winner will get a mystery prize and be invited to the Grand Final in Dublin in December 2018 to compete for the Toyota Yaris Hybrid.

Picture shows Ciaran Mulligan of Blue Insurances and Loughlin Murphy of Toyota Sandyford.

bed. Seville attractions mark it out a close distance to other Andalusian cities such as Cordoba, Malaga and Granada.

Picture shows the group at the Alcazar in Seville, Caroline Kelly of Travelnet, Elaine Hughes of O’Donohoe Travel, Alan Preston of Clickandgo, Lori Malesa of Clickandgo, Alan Lynch of Citiescapes, Kathryn MacDonnell of the Spanish Tourism Office

The Ireland stand won the best stand feature with a large troll-like figure to mark Lonely Planet’s 2018 best in travel award for Best Region which was given to the Giant’s Causeway.

The Irish stand reported brisk businesses with 60 appointments for some of the representatives.

Picture shows Biddy Hughes of Westport House and Catherine Grennell-Whyte of ATTS at the event.

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 10

DESTINATION SPAIN

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ccess and beds are a key to a destination.

If you have one or the other you were already in the mass tourism market. Benidorm has both. Sadly, with all the benefits of being one of Spain’s first and best fitted mass-market destinations, comes a downside.

Before we had reached our destination, the downside was already clear.

The flight to Alicante had three hen parties on board. The police were on hand to greet us when we landed, to escort a gentleman off the aircraft who had been too fresh with an air hostess.

The aircraft aisle was filled throughout the flight of people queueing, shoulder to shoulder, to empty their bladders, having started from a well irrigated airport preparation regime.

The drive to Benidorm from Alicante airport was about 40 minutes and, when you reach the town, you see three small arcs of high-rise accommodation with the old town, elevated on a promontory, dwarfed by the concrete all around it.

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enidorm is boisterous, too boisterous for many tastes, but there is a bigger story here. And we went to investigate.

The alternative Benidorm that we were shown was full of high class rather than high rise hotels, fine dining, wine tasting, diving, jetski, and, most surprising of all, the lung of the city is a nearby national park as beautiful is anything you

A secluded nature park and diving haven, where could it be?

Benidorm has a beauty which belies its reputation would hike through the wilderness to find.

Benidorm is like an artichoke. You can scratch and scratch and the layers fall away.

You do not need to hike to the Nature Park of Sierra Helada. You can bike. On the e-bikes supplied in the city centre, with an eco conscience and zero emissions The electronic bikes help you up the hill and when you reach the crest you can drink to excess, gorge yourself, dizzy and inebriated upon the vista of the rocky coastline with ancient defensive towers and secluded beaches.

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he coastline and nature park were sculpted by nature, Benidorm was invented.

The plan was drawn up by Mayor Pedro Zaragoza. He rode his Vespa motor scooter to visit

THINGS TO DO

n Tao Bike Tours offer six alternative tours, Benidorm from end to end u32, Full Sierra Helada Natural Park u32, Atea Bike Experience Paella cooking class u65, Bicitapa u42, Benidorm artisanal beer brewery u42, and a night routes cycle. www.taobike.es n Bodegas Mendoza Winery, Enrique Mendoza’s amenable show vineyard with wines grown on local chalky soil.

Franco in Madrid, to persuade him to lift the ban on bikinis on the beaches.

There is a crucifix on the hill over Benidorm to demonstrate that this is as Christian a town as any, despite the arrival of the godless bikini.

Pedro Zaragoza demonstrated his plan to develop the city to grow vertically using a packet of cigarettes.

He put no limits on height, he put limits on the mountains instead.

The third or fourth line buildings had to have a view to the sea.

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ergio Ruiz is our host for our stay.

He says that 13 Benidorms would cater for the entire tourist industry in Spain, and invites us to speculate that, by cramming los jovenes Ingleses into high rise apartments, it saves the rest of the country from being ravaged.

STAY AND EAT

n Villa del Mar Hotel 4* superior hotel, a warm friendly place with a splendid plaza cafe on Poniente Beach where you can watch the world go by .

The all inclusive package is very popular and the rooftop bars gives some of the best views in Benidorm. n Llum de Mar” Restaurant in Villa Venecia 5* Hotel n Madeira restaurant, great rooftop

Alternative Benidorm Benidorm had a population of 1,200 a century ago. Now it as 60,000 hotel beds and a population of 400,000 in high season. In low season, the type of tourism changes, less frenetic, older, more measured.

The key that brings everyone here since the bikini clause was conceived? The beaches, he says. They look to the south and the sand beaches are regenerating themselves. They are well kept with pedestrianised, blue paved corniches and (mostly) well behaved waves.

Other resorts on the costa drunko have to bring sand from Morocco.

There are seven beaches, Poniente Beach was outside our hotel, very Spanish and exotic and not at all like cliche Benidorm. Malpas Beach sits under the old town, still there with its restaurants and food markets, if a little intimidated by pushy modern flanks.

To the north is Levante beach and, as you nose into the nature park you meet Almadrava beach and Top Ximo beach. All have marmalade rocks and white sand, the key to their place in the hier-

archy is how many blue and white sunbeds are stacked in little cairns in readiness of the next invasion.

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o the north and south Mayor Pedro Zaragosa’s pack of cigarettes still stands upright, what the old guide books used to call “a spectacular complex of accommodations” (the same guide book said Benidorm’s clear luminous atmosphere made it ideal for the situation of geriatric and rehabilitation centres), a jumble of tower blocks jostling for a glimpse of the sea.

Just beyond is Puig Campana, a 4,000 foot mountain with a chunk bitten out of the top, as if it belonged in Tipperary.

The oldest of the alternative experiences is the jeep ride in the mountains. Dennis Raus of Marco Polo Expediciones Jeep Safari collected us and brought us up the narrow mountain tracks. A goat would be happy here.

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aving sampled all of this we went seeking a karaoke bar. We found Voices, so karaoke that they almost held audi-

tions for the singers who all got up in turn to perform a meticulously rehearsed arty piece.

“Are we human or are we dancer,” said a sign outside one club along the way. All very civilised still, like the white painted stone balustrades of the esplanades which give the town a curiously genteel air.

Seeking something more raucous and casual, we carried on away from the beach front, away from the strips of tapas bars, and into the place where the hen and the stag parties converge.

It was a terrible sight.

People passed out on the floor. Someone had been sick over a potted bougainvillaea. Love making engaged on doorways of the street, and the sounds of over lubricated revelry, turning occasionally to rage at some real or imagined slight.

This was Benidorm of the satellite TV channels. No wonder they want to show the alternative side to anyone who cares to look. The joy of Benidorm is you do not have to look very far to find the serene, the beautiful, the peaceful, the antidote to the madness.

n Eoghan Corry travelled to Benidorm as a guest of the Spanish Tourist Board.

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 11

DESTINATION USA

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t looks like a farm, which, of course, is what it is. Wade Lawrence of the Bethel Woods visitor centre turns to the little hollow in the distance and describes what it is like to work on the shrine that is the site of Woodstock 1969.

“The vibe lives on that field, people walk the stage and get choked up.

Of course, we feel that vibe every day, we work here.”

This was the first surprise of the trip to Norwegian’s New York destination and its hinterland.

Woodstock is not in Woodstock. It is nowhere near Woodstock, sixty miles away, like saying Electric Picnic was in Dublin.

The mythologizing began before the concert began and Bethel Woods works hard to recreate the chaos. It was, in turn, a financial disaster, a traffic jam, a mudbath, a mess, a state disaster area, a movie and a financial success. Musicians not on the bill were conscripted to give impromptu performances. It over-ran by a half a day.

The electricity had not been hooked up when the first act took to the stage.

There were only 40,000 o the 500,00 spectators left when Jimmy Hendrix played the most famous set of the weekend.

Today a visitor centre tries to recreate the spirit of that weekend. Joni Mitchell would be horrified.

Hudson river high

Norwegian Air’s new service has opened up mid NY state

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Wade Lawrence and Emily Casey of the Bethel Woods Woodstock Centre

he flight to Stewart International airport in Newburgh, Norwegian Air’s version of New York, was a revelation of what has changed in aviation.

The Boeing 737-900 had no seatback video, but most of the passengers did not notice as they had loaded their own entertainment on tablets and were watching it.

Few people had booked food or drink.

When we landed, the checked in suitcases (fro those few who had checked in a bag at €80) were delivered at the check in desk. The baggage belt was put into reverse and bags form the hall unloaded where they would normally be

checked in.

There was also an unscheduled stop in Boston en route, but that was a bonus.

The passengers were happy with the novelty and the price. A lot of them were not going to Manhattan on the bus.

They were meeting friends from the neighbouring counties. There is a bus to Manhattan, but on that evening it seemed a long way away and there were lots of interesting things to do in the immediate hinterland of Newburgh.

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ancy Lutz of Hudson valley brought us across the Hudson atop the splendid 1889 can-

THINGS TO DO, PLACES TO EAT & STAY

n Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. www.bethelwoodscenter.org 200 Hurd Road, Bethel, New York 12720, the site of the 1969 Woodstock festival, n Catskill Distilling Company, www. catskilldistilling.com 2037 NY-17B, Bethel, NY 12720. New York State Farm micro distillery in action n FDR Home & Library. www. fdrlibrary.orgm4079 Albany Post Road, Hyde Park, NY 12538, life and times of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and their continuing impact on contemporary life. n Shadows on the Hudson. www.

shadowsonthehudson.com 176 Rinaldi Blvd, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 award-winning waterfront restaurant located in Poughkeepsie, NY, perched on a cliff 40 feet above the Hudson River n The DeBruce. www.thedebruce. com 982 Debruce Rd, Livingston Manor, NY 12758, sits on a ledge overlooking the Willowemoc Valley and river in upstate New York’s Catskill Park. n Walkway over the Hudson. www. walkway.org, Upper Landing Park, 75 North Water St. in Poughkeepsie.

tilevered steel railway bridge. Built as a link between industrial new England and the coalfields of Pennsylvania, it was closed after a fire in 1974 and spent thirty years rusting before becoming a state park in 2009.

It has become a thoroughfare for couples, joggers, walkers, and selfie-takers, watching the trains below take their long tens of minutes to snake past.

It is enough to work up an appetite, and we watch the sun set over the river in Shadows on the Hudson Restaurant, on a forty foot promontory overlooking the river.

“The colour genie comes out and paints the mountains purple,” Washington Irving said of the sunset.

By now the food has landed and is being hap-

pily instagrammed by the group. “It is the Italian in me,” says Nancy Ludz. “I have never met a carbohydrate I don’t like” In a square below in Poughkeepsie town there is an status of New York’s Celbridge-born founding father, Thomas Dongan.

“One of the greatest constructive statesmen ever sent to an English colony,” the inscription declares. “The assembly which he created passed an act known as “The Charter of Liberties and Privileges” which assumed the sovereignty of the people and proclaimed religious liberty, the right of suffrage, trial by jury, and no taxation without the consent of the assembly. Dongan’s charter was the Magna Carta of American constitutional liberty. Many of its principles are em-

bedded in the structure of our federal government.”

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ranklin D Roosevelt is the celebrity ex president here, propelled into popular culture by Roger Michell’s Hyde Park on Hudson.

The estates look down on the river on FDR’s favourite views. The FDR family homestead is cluttered with furniture and period curios, a concrete reception area with video and interpretation rooms for the place that he went to rehabilitate after contracting polio in 1921.

“He got a lot done, forty hours work weeks and eight hour work days,” the guide says, “hopefully there will be some sort of social security left when I get to retire.”

n Norwegian has launched flights from Cork, Shannon, Dublin and Belfast to two airports on the US east coast which offer good access into the Boston, New York and New England areas but carry significantly lower landing charges, allowing Norwegian to offer some truly affordable fares n Flights are available to Stewart International Airport in New York from Dublin (daily), Shannon (2-weekly) and Belfast International (3 weekly) n Flights are also available to Providence-Boston from Cork (3-weekly), Shannon (2-weekly), and Dublin (5-weekly) n Fares start from €129 one-way, €230 return (for Belfast £125 one-way, £230 return) n Flights are available to book at www.norwegian.com/ie

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 12

DESTINATION USA

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he city of Miami is defined by the Atlantic Ocean.

So what better way to sample it than a boat ride from Bayside Marketplace in the canalised quays of downtown.

We climbed onboard the Thriller expecting to be thrilled, with some suspicion that the may have over-revved the marketing on this one.

The tour began, as boat rides tend to, with fun facts about the city and dive pasts of celebrity homes, done with the enthusiastic voyeurism that celebrity culture cultivates and rejoices in.

The pickings were rich.

Miami was long a refuge for the rich, famous and feckless so vividly portrayed by F Scott Fitzgerald in his 1920s novels from This Side of Paradise onwards.

By the time we had passed 20th industrial magnate’s home and heard how much the house was worth the novelty and the sense of being thrilled had abated somewhat. But then the boat revved up and we were told by our fast talking tour guide, to accompanying soundtrack, “welcome to the Atlantic Ocean.”

The boat revved up and the music pace rose to match, the driver and tour guide punched the air and the wind burst through our hair.

This was the view

Pace taker

Miami, newest direct destination from Ireland Paul Hackett of Clickandgo in the aquarium of Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, Miami that everyone coming to Miami hankers for, a speed course along South beach with the bathers and surfers and splashers all within easy reach or sight, a helicopter overhead, jet skiers and paragliders dancing on the waves or above, and the deep bassboom soundtrack that seems to be essential to appreciate the fast paced city.

It is thirty-odd years since the television series Miami Vice reshaped the self image if the city and hastened the restoration of a seedy, slightly pathetic enclave of residen-

tial hotels into the finest collection of Art deco buildings in the United States.

The preservationists moved in, old architectural plans and photos were gleaned from the archives, and an area was reborn.

Since then the tempo of Miami has been close to what awe experienced on the speedboat ride, a rock tempo.

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ast paced means expensive. Eats, beers, tacos and fine steak are all priced at a premium in the city.

THINGS TO DO & PLACES TO SEE

n Stay at the Biltmore Hotel 1200 Anastasia Ave Coral Gables FL 33130 n Loews Miami Beach Hotel 1601 Collins Ave Miami Beach FL, 33139 n Classic steak dining at Jim Dunn and Dave Terry ‘s Smith & Wollensky 1 Washington Ave Miami Beach, FL 33139 n Sea food dining at Milos Miami by Costas Spiliadis +1305-604-6800 n Casual dining in an arty setting at Wynwood Kitchen & Bar 2550 NW 2nd Ave Miami, FL 33127 n The SWOOP ride fun street tour +1954.248.8770 theswoopride.com

n Thriller Miami Speedboat Tour departs from Bayside Marketplace and provides sightseeing experience in Miami Vice Style..thrillermiami.com n Perez Art Museum Miami – PAMM 1103 Biscayne Boulevard Miami, Florida 33132 n Frost Museum of Science 1101 Biscayne Blvd Miami FL, 33132 n MPH club offers a chance to drive luxury cars such as Ferrari & Lamborghinis from Opa Locka Executive Airport and some hotel locations. +1 305-330-6322. www.mphclub.com n OneLimo Alliance provides transportation through the city for groups and individuals onelimoalliance.com

The South Beach dineries, the top-rated steakhouses like Christy’s, Smith and Wollensky’s, Mortons, Prime 112, Flemings, the Palm and Capital Grille come at a premium price. A beer can cost $9 and do not even thing of entering a downtown designer shop, but you can offer the credit card some respite by escaping escapes to the melting pot neighbourhoods where not everyone is from Cuba, but you might think it.

Lincoln Road’s eclectic mix of funky boutiques, restaurants and al fresco cafés now includes such hot brands as Diesel, Earl Jeans, Steve Madden, L’Occitane, and Kiehl’s.

Miami Design District. runs the length of 18 blocks of interior design showrooms, Dadeland Mall (www.Simon.com) is a traditional enclosed

shopping mall featuring a mix of 185 stores. and a the opposite, northern end of Miami, Aventura Mall is the largest conventional shopping mall in Florida.

For the outlet-bound, Dolphin Mall and Prime Factory Outlets about 35 minutes south of downtown Miami are for shoppers with an agenda.

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e went to Ope Locka Executive airport to find the coolest activity of the trip. Alex Carles of mphclub was waiting for us.

“The Lamborghini, the Ferrari and the BMW 7, you guys might have to do a bit of rock on super scissors to see who goes first.” The experience was more rock than paper, a drive around several blocks in an exotic car turned a party of experienced Irish

travel trade into 11-yearolds. People hire his cars, and one tried to setal one once, unaware there are eight GPS locaters built in. A big problem is valet drivers jumping on the roof for selfies.

There is no doubt who was noisiest., Lamborghini screamed like a stuck pig. The sound of a 10 naturally aspirated engine still puts the fuel injection into the adrenaline, beating the whistle of the turbo anytime.

The Silence of the Lamborghinis is not going to be made any time soon.

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merica has faster more upbeat cities, though not many, and perhaps even more iconic ones. Miami doesn’t use theme parks or casinos or movie locations or skyscrapers to push its message home.

Doesn’t need to.

n Eoghan Corry flew to Miami on Aer Lingus, which operates a three times weekly service from Dublin direct to Miami Florida, year round. Fares start from €209 each-way, including taxes and charges, when booked as a return trip. Visit aerlingus.com for further information. n Aer Lingus launched Ireland’s first direct service to Miami from Dublin n Enjoy US Immigration Preclearance at Dublin airport and avoid any queues stateside n All Aer Lingus guests enjoy endless hours of the very best inflight entertainment including the latest blockbusters, box sets, games and much more plus compli-

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 13

DESTINATION PORTUGAL

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o matter how many come, the single thing they will all be certain to take back from the Algarve is the memory of the colour of the sand on Alvor Beach.

The Algarve coat of arms is reflective of martial heritage, Five shields and seven castles that distinguished themselves in the wars against the Moors, but it might well be five sunbeds and seven sandcastles. The region has 95 miles of coastline and a reputation for south-facing warm beaches, grapefruit cliffs, pudding sea-stacks with sloppy contours, and gentler waves that has rippled its way northwards since the Lisbon classe média first began to arrive a century ago.

Since then, amid the unrelenting march of pools and upclimbing towers, it has preserved an astonishing amount of its beauty and character.

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he TUI rep Adam Wedge Willis greeted us on arrival. The most popular excursions, he says, are the unforgettable lazy daze and the Zoomarine and Slide and Splash.

Our excursion of choice was the well worn trail to Silves and Monchique.

Escape the high rise and it does not take long to reach the classic architecture of the villages, “The stripes on the doors are to keep the ghosts and the flies away”, tour guide Marta Carapuca says, “it works with the ghosts but not with the flies.

Sulves Castle

Algarve: land of sand and castles

The hidden beauty that lies behind the beachfront

This is only a few kilometres from the beaches and attracts a different type of tourist. Copo de Vinho, 1.50 says a sign on the stoney route to the top.

Silves is a dramatic tower topped town of red sandstone, stork nests on the tail chimneys.

On the road from Seville to the west, it enjoyed an action packed

12th to 15th centuries and the accumulation of all that action is best explored in the red walled battlements of the castle with views back down across the town.

The coaches drop off at the bottom of the town and it is a bit of a hike uphill on cobbled streets in hot summer but in the autumnal heat is was a pleasant place to explore.

TUI ALGARVE EXCURSIONS

n Best of the west u46 n Silves and Monchique u59 n Lisbon sights and sounds u59 n Blue Lagoon secrets u87 n Authentic Algarve u45 n Jewels of the Algarve u50 n Postcards of the Coast u80 n Pirates of the Algarve u59 n Family fun day u49 n Super day, double fun u69

n Off the beaten track u52 n Dolphin spotting u35 n Zoormarine u29 n Aquashowq u29 n Slide and splash u27 n Sunset and moonlight u65 n Guardiana river cruise u47 n Unforgettable lazy daze u48 n Seville shopping u49 n Loule market u21

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onchique was launched as a spa town by King João II In 1495 and has bubbling away nicely ever since, with modern hotels opened to reuse the famous thermal waters here.

The spa buildings are from a century ago, in a droll Moorish style, the town straggles up to a stream where the walks are gentle and cooling under the tree, in contract to the gut-shrivvelling local liqueur Medronho, made from the fruits of the arbutus (strawberry) tree.

Past the Sierra de Monchique, Mediterranean area where heavy rainfall has produced

a wealth of vegetation, there is a stop on Foia, at 902m high the highest point in the Algarve, a cluster of communications masts competing to photobomb the shots of the selfie-snapping tourists with the rough karst country of olives and apricots spilling away on every side.

At Loule, a town with wide handsome boulevards and busy streets, there is a bustling indoor market where you can pick your food for dinner later on.

Fatima D”Augusti brought us around her vineyard, a tasty finish to the tour before the excursionists scattered back to their hotels.

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agos is the focal point of the western Algarve, its main square swirling in mosaic tiles, a statue of Henry the Navigator perched overlooking the day trippers. Slaves were once sold in a small cloister like area of the square.

In the Church of Saint Anthony we found the grave of Donegal born Hugo Beaty, commander of Lagos Infantry Regiment, who restored the baroque beauty in 1769 from damage in the earthquake of 1755.

The gravestone notes he was protestant but put all that energy and resources into restoring a Catholic church.

Further along is sabres, the End of the world, featuring a castle with a yard where Prince Henry eyed up the ocean and the stars an calculated where the salt winds might carry him. The wind rakes the yellow cliffs and the scattered brush. The nearby lighthouse offers a windswept lookout.

The Portuguese headed south and west in search of a land that would rival th Algarve.

They never found it.

n Eoghan Carry travelled to lvor in the Algarve as a guest of TUI Holidays

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 14

ESCORTED TOURS

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alient. The key word to keep in your mind as you look over the wreckage of the mindless violence.

A salient sticks like a V into enemy territory.

The front line is straight until they find a salient.

Defencing the salient is pointless, a matter for egos, for somebody’s promotion chances.

Defending two salients in the first world war, by the British and their colonial possessions (including Ireland) at Ypres, by the French at the Marne, cost a million lives apiece. The great battlefield graveyards are mainly in these two places. The names of their battles are repeated in the churches and graveyards of Ireland,.

On the white graves as you walk through the implausibly large cemeteries there are lots of slogs “known only t God”, “they will never grow old,’ “they will not be forgotten.”

The boast is pathetic: it touches you with its futility. A century after the end of the first world war, the memory of those that died is being dressed up with new military flag-waving zeal, by the descendants of those who thought defending the Ypres salient would look good on their CV.

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hen you lift your shoes out of the clinging soil that you realise how difficult it must have

Fruits of futility

Eoghan Corry joins an escorted tour of Flanders with GTI The grave of Wilie Redmond at Locre,

been to fight here.

The chalky clay of the Somme doesn’t go away.

When you try to clean it off, it actually multiplies as if it has been breeding on your shoe and goes everywhere.

After two or three site visits you are now haunted by this stuff.

Dig in for four years in a damp trench, it must have beyond what one could imagine.

Further up to another salient there was another problem with the clingy marlish mud. Animals, carriages, men disappeared into it.

In the museum at Pas-

schendaele there is an artwork of hands grasping upwards towards the sky, one man’s commentary on how awful being caught in the mud must have been.

With the mud and the chalk, the clean fields from which the armies have practised their rifle rounds of machine-gun rounds seems redundant.

They were not trained for mud or chalk.

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nd in Passchendaele the most depressing, most beautiful cemetery of them all, the burial site at Langemarck of 35,000

Germans shaded by oak trees.

The Germans who died here were allocated the least land after the war.

Unlike the English who allocated government money, and still do, to commemorating so-called military heroics as part of a culture that recruits and sends more conscripts, this time economic conscripts, to battlefields in countries they have invaded around the world, there was little money to maintain these graves.

There are no “countless white crosses standing mute in the sand.” There are just dark graves, in some cases carrying tens of thousands, under the oak trees, something terrible and beautiful at the same time.

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he Irish memorials, erected in the torrid time when the country was being partitioned, also fall into their identification packages.

The Munsters were

Tour guide Simon Louagie conducts Irish travel trade and writers on a tour of Flanders at the Francis Ledwidge monument at Boezinghe,

commemorated in the most dignified of the memorials in Ypres, a Celtic cross donated by the people of Cork who reminded readers they were the capital of Munster.

Other landmarks carry Irish names, the Connacht cemetery and the Birr road, a highway that leads to hellfire cross outside Ypres. Hellfire got its name because it was a target of intense shelling through the history of the battles here.

The Ulster Memorial was more declamatory, the larger a replica of Helen’s Tower Clandeboye, and its companion with four emblazoned battles commemorated on the plinth, none of them with anything to do with the First World War. Derry, Aughrim, Enniskillen and the Boyne is the mantra of this monument, a line from the Sash My Father Wore, and a message to visitors that might as well say Catholics need not apply (the Ulster called the sali-

ent the Pope’s nose).

An Armagh Catholic on the trip with us commented: “it’s as if we never existed. And they wonder why Northern Catholics do not wear the poppy.”

Not far away the Irish Peace Park was put together in the wave of optimism that came from the 1990s peace process, a round tower with the door halfway up the front caused some puzzlement among the Belgians who were involved in erecting it, and when the attention span had moved on, left to maintain it.

In one of those ironic peace outcomes the Imperial War Graves commission were the ones who nowadays get to mow the lawn.

Connacht is gloriously misspelled, on one of the memorials here. When you’re putting up a memorial in stone, grammar should be important.

The Ulster abuse the redundant apostrophe, the Munster Memorial studiously get it right

n Eoghan Corry was hosted by GTI relating to the centenary of the Battle of the Somme. Ypres based four-day tours of the WW1 battlefields of Flanders and the Somme are on offer for the centenary of the finale. Telephone +353 1 843 4734

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surprise for those who trundle through a handful of the 130 cemeteries which carry the English war dead, and the colonials under English commands, about 72,000 of the bodies were never found.

The paybook was used to identify the dead, not for commemorative purposes but so that their shilling a day could be stopped (and the 12/6 sent to the separas at home, £50,000 as being given out to the women of Dublin whose husbands were at the front at the time of then1916 Rising).

The average soldier was 5’3 tall. Three square meals a day meant many of them outgrew their uniforms.

They were gathered up and sent to the provost’s office, two large trucks putting them into pillowcases and putting them into the back of the truck, blood running from the pillows.

Today the remains of the dead and the debris of war float occasionally to the topsoil and are likely to surface any time a farmer ploughs a field.

Lumps of shrapnel are pushed aside wherever there is a clearing. This is counted among the most polluted land on Earth.

Every day three pieces of unexploded ordnance are found and have to be rendered safe. Of 2bn shells fired, a quarter did not explode and 60,000 are still

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JANUARY 2018 PAGE 15

ESCORTED TOURS

Remains of the trenches at Essex Farm in the region.

Each year some people doing the job are killed, 600 have died since 1945.

Occasionally the car will explode and vanish into thin air as if they were a 19-year-old from Belfast or Athy sent off on George V’s family business.

The English put up poignant crosses, laid out in parade ground order, with “known only to God,” but when you see the scale of the conflict and the killing you wonder how does even God keep track.

he bloodiest of the killing fields of World War I were confined to two very small areas.

Two salients, each about 30,000 acres, marked where armies managed a small bulge in the other’s territory existed in Verdun and Ypres. Frenchmen fell by their tens of thousands at the first, men from England and their colonies at the second.

The fronts here barely moved over the four year history of the war. In the lines of the Roger Waters song, as the general sat, the lines on the map

moved from side to side..

This was where the worst of the butchery played out. Just after the last of the fallen had fallen the spin began.

Commemorating them became part of the spin.

A hundred years later it is chilling and almost ghoulish how commemorating the dead of that war has been turned into a new battle by some, a renewed fountain of triumphalism and nationalism. And, whisper the word, imperialism.

The pageantry and bugle playing and wreath laying at the Menin Gate every night excludes the

soldiers who fought on the other side, and, oddly, most of those who fought on the same side.

It is a Britons-only event. One of the last surviving veterans of the First World War lived until 113 and only came to visit very late in his life. On his first night here, Harry Patch visited the German cemetery with Germany’s last survivor Erich Kästner.

At Menin he insisted on dedicating the ceremony to the fallen Germans on the other side. ud and chalk.

That is how the world came

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to an end and hundreds of thousands perished.

It is only when you get the feel of it under your shoes that you realise what the millions of reluctant conscripts went through in that bloody summer of 100 years ago at the frontline of a family spat between two quarrelling cousins, the King of England and the Kaiser of Germany.

A family squabble that killed eight million people.

The Orange memorial, trench iron, Langemarck Cemetery, the Ulster memorial featuring King William, the enormous crater at Ploegsteert

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 16

ESCORTED TOURS

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ake no mistake about it.

A guided tour is the most effective way for customers to get the most value for their vacation in the limited time they have to go.

When people are on holiday, they want everything to be organised for them. They do NOT want to deal with all the backend logistics.

The guided tour offers the individual attention of a tailor-made package within a group tour.

When agents sell guided travel, their clients get the experience of the operators, the local connections, the access they can’t get on their own, security and knowledge.

The escorted tour offers better hotels, flexibility over meals and excursions, and more inclusions. It takes the pressure off of the planning and let’s customers focus on enjoying their holiday. Customers save money and travel with professionals that get them into signature sites without having to queue, offering more time to see what each destination has to offer.

A customer who usually books a cruise is a good choice. Escorted tours are a daily staple of the cruise industry and many customers tend to cruise only every other year. The in-between years are good to sell an escorted land holiday.

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he appetite for comfort tours is greater than ever, sand the escorted coach tour is where an growing number of holiday makers are looking.

To catch the trend, agents need to modernise their language and abandon old fashioned ideas about how the industry works.

Travel agents who aren’t selling what once were known as coach tours are missing out on sales and profits.

Long ago holiday

Perspex perspective

The ins and outs of escorted tours makers got on a bus.

Nowadays a bus is a business-class experience.

Travel agents need to emphasise that when you travel with an escorted tour, you are not on the coach, you are in a destination on a guided holiday. The coach is just the vehicle that gets you from one destination to another.

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any holiday makers always longed to travel but did not know where to start. That’s where a tour operator in whose safe hands they can trust their precious holiday comes in.

When it comes to visas, insurance and all that boring stuff, which can make or break a holiday, they not only need expert guidance – they MUST get it.

Escorted tours are normally conducted by a tour director who takes care of all services from beginning to end of the tour.

They normally include flights, hotels, transportation, transfers to the airport/hotel, most meals and sightseeing.

They are typically conducted by motor coach.

They can be fastpaced, with no more than two nights spent in each location, or more leisurely, with more time spent overnight at each locale.

There is a difference between escorted, when guests are met at arrival and accompanied to departure, and a tour that leaves clients on their own with transfer reps and tours.

Escorted tours are available on every continent in the world, from budget to luxury, leisurely to fast-paced.

They range anywhere from 6 to 34 days.

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he market is growing and changing.

As with land based holiday destinations and tour operators they are beginning to see cruise ships as their biggest competition.

Escorted tour operators in the Irish market include: n Colette Vacations n Contiki Holidays – youth market n Cosmos n Exodus

n Explore n G Adventures n Globus n GTI n Insight Vacations n PAB n Riviera n Trafalgar tours n Travel Department Travel Department are the brand leader out of Ireland, having made a huge success out of the so-called grey market.

CIE Tours International and Brendan Vacations are also Irish connected although they offer tours worldwide.

Globus, Cosmos, Contiki, Insight, Riviera Travel, Trafalgar, Collette Vacations, GTI, Explore and Exodus are all big international brands.

Contiki targets the younger traveller, up to age 35. Globus and Trafalgar operate around the same price points while Cosmos is a less expensive Globus brand.

Intrepid and Imaginative Traveller target smaller and younger groups. Explore and Exodus have loyal travellers who have stuck with them, often since the companies were founded in the 1980s. Their demo-

graphic seems to have grown older with the companies. “Age appropriate sales,” is the phrase that is increasingly used by tour companies.

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emember that not all escorted tours are created equal.

They are typically conducted by motorcoach but some have more adventurous options on part of the journey along the way.

They can be fastpaced, with no more than two nights spent in each location, or more leisurely, with more time spent overnight at each locale.

It is not just about itineraries. Some include flights, hotels, transportation, transfers to the airport/hotel, most meals and sightseeing. Others exclude some of the key items.

Tours will sometimes vary the standard of hotels, with three stars in the rural parts and five star in the city.

It can be a scramble for hotels on the most popular itineraries.

Around Lake Garda, Como and Maggiore

there are six or seven hotels around each lake to choose from, with the tour operators offering strikingly similar itineraries Most escorting touring companies have 52-seater coaches. Leg room on board, the use of city centre hotels versus suburban hotels, functional extras such as free wifi and charge points and the itineraries are all differentiators.

Some pack their buses, some deal with smaller groups of less than twenty. Some switch between the two, while some dealing with small groups use local transport rather than a chartered coach.

Some may stay in one city for several nights while taking day trips through the local countryside, or use a leisurely itinerary that may cover a few different cities in one area of the world.

Then there are fastpaced tours that give you a great overview of many countries in Europe, several states in the USA or many regions of Australia.

There are budget and first class options, independent travel packages and sometimes river cruise options.

Some offer family travel, youth travel for 18 to 35 year-olds, faith based and small group travel (for no more than 26 guests, for those that want a more personalised experience.

Some companies include gratuities, others do not.

The real difference comes in itineraries, and that is where a travel agent can excel in helping customers understand what is and isn’t included in the price, as well as compare optional excursion costs and the location of the hotels.

Some companies include local dining experiences on tour, an opportunity to get to know the locals and regions better.

Discover more of the world for less Our award-winning tours include what’s essential and leave out the unnecessary, so experiencing the world with Riviera Travel won’t cost the earth.

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8 days from only €799pp

16 days from only €2,599pp

Departures from May to September 2018

Departures from April to October 2018

Departures from January to November 2018

So much is included...

So much is included...

So much is included...

• • • •

• Explore Lake Garda on land and by boat • Spend the day in the spectacular Dolomites • Enjoy ‘classic’ or ‘undiscovered’ tours of Venice and Verona with a guide • Spend two days at leisure

• Tour the Zulu battlefields with a specialist guide • Full-day guided safari in Kruger National Park • Stay in the Winelands and enjoy a cellar tour with tasting at a wine estate • Stay in Cape Town and explore Cape of Good Hope and Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens • Visit Johannesburg’s Apartheid Museum • See the Blyde River canyon • Scenic drives along the Garden Route and through Swaziland • Enjoy whale-watching in Hermanus (weather permitting)

Tour Cassis and take a boat trip to see the Calanques Discover Aix-en-Provence with a local guide Visit Avignon, home of the magnificent Popes’ Palace Take a walking tour of Arles, the inspiration for Van Gogh’s paintings • Experience the Camargue nature reserve • See the medieval villages of the Luberon

We also offer tours for solo travellers...

NEW YORK CITY FOR SOLO TRAVELLERS

SOUTH AFRICA

PLUS, OF COURSE… • Return flights from Dublin or Belfast, plus hotel transfers • Accommodation in handpicked accommodation rated three to five stars 5 days from only €1,839pp Departures from February to November 2018 So much is included...

• Stay in Midtown Manhattan with views of the Empire State Building • Tour the city’s highlights with an expert guide • Ascend the Empire State Building

• Visit the Statue of Liberty (ferry ride included) • Guided stroll through the unique High Line park • Enjoy Greenwich Village on a food-themed tour

To request a brochure or to make a booking, call: 01

• Daily breakfast and selected meals • The services of our experienced tour manager throughout

905 6300 visit: www.rivieratravel.ie

Holiday organised by and subject to the booking conditions of Riviera Travel, Chase House, City Junction Business Park, Malahide Road, Northern Cross, Dublin D17 AK63.

Fully licensed and bonded by CAR (T.O. 257) Prices correct as of 30.10.17.

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 18

ESCORTED TOURS Others offer the option to dine with local families in their homes, learn how to cook regional dishes and share a glass with winemakers at their vineyards.

Some companies offer dinners with wine and live entertainment.

Escorted rail tours are growing in popularity.

Some companies offer journeys by heritage transport

special departures exclusively for solo travellers.

I

nsight offers 40-seater coaches, others tend to have 52 seats. Insight purchases brand new top of the range coaches and reconfigures them to 40-seater coaches thus offering business class legroom.

All coaches have free Wi-Fi and charge points for phones and iPads.

Each coach is in operation for only five years.

They say their premium status comes from hotels, food inclusions, VIP entries to sites, more inclusions and seat pitch.

They sit at the 4/5 star level.

Insight say their hotels are hand-picked in the more desirable locations.

A

ccommodation can vary significantly, and is often at local guesthouses and pensions. In general, most escorted tour companies choose hotels in suburbs as opposed to city centre locations as it keep the price point lower.

Sometimes you’ll have an amazing room, other times you’ll be in a small room sharing a bath down the hall.

Look out for unique authentic accommodations or hotels locations in the major city centres.

It is a matter of taste.

Does the customer prefer a hotel that is centrally located so that they can walk out of the hotel room and be in the heart of the city, or do you prefer perhaps a nicer, more unique hotel outside of the city centre. Some companies offer stays in villas. Many companies offer a mix of each.

This is a great opportunity for your travel agent who gets to know the customer’s likes and dislikes, and what they are hoping for out of their holiday.

On many escorted tours only a small number of meals might be included and these can be group meals.

Most escorted touring company’s prices do not include excursions and entries to tourist sights/ attractions and guests are asked while on tour by the Tour Guides/Managers to pay for this, so it is an additional cost on top of the price paid for the tour.

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Travel agents sample an Insight Vacations coach here is a difference in terms of what is offered between brands who are targeting the traditional escorted tour clients and the youth market.

The perception of escorted tours is beginning to change amongst the younger generation, with the likes of Contiki and G Adventures becoming stronger in the Irish market place.

Both companies offer escorted group travel to the youth market, with Contiki specifically targeting young travellers between 18-35 only while G Adventures also caters for older more adventurous traveller and families also.

Escorted travel is the perfect way for young solo individuals to travel who are seeking the company of like-minded people and, of course, the security of travelling with others in an organised group.

In some cases young travellers will look to their travel agent for advice on solo travelling and they are presented with group holiday travel,

such as Contiki.

Due to the nature of it being a youth product one can expect the product offering to be different to that of Insight Vacations, Trafalgar, Travel Department who would be more appealing to more mature age categories.

Contiki’s trips tend to be more high energy (with plenty of outdoor activities on offer), sociable and geared towards making friends.

Accommodation on offer ranges from camping to hostels and hotels. There are plenty of room share options, so this eliminates single room supplements, and of course younger travellers tend to have less problems with sharing rooms than more mature travellers.

R

iviera Travel won three awards by London based consumer body Which in 2017, including Travel Brand of the Year 2017.

Riviera Travel staff undergo resort-based annual training and build knowledge so they can

advise about the holiday based on their own experience.

Their Tour Managers have a tradition of long service, 16 of them now for over twenty years and that staff are selected for organisational ability. knowledge and are multilingual.

Riviera say that since their inception 30 years ago, they’ve never levied a surcharge – even when currency and fuel mitigate against them.

Stephen Sands of Riviera says “what sets us apart are the outstanding quality and value of our holidays, and our commitment to the customer experience.

“We aim to make each trip memorable. Our holidays bring the heartbeat of our destinations closer, as each place we visit is brought to life by expert guides whose knowledge and passion are unmatched.

We plan each holiday around our customers, including the essentials and leaving out the unnecessary, so exceptional travel experiences need not cost the earth. Every

tour includes: n Visits and guided tours covering a destination’s must-see highlights and lesser-known gems n Return flights plus hotel transfers n Hand-picked accommodation n Meals included vary by tour – generally daily breakfast is included on our European tours n The services of a Riviera Travel tour manager “All our holidays are competitively priced and offer fantastic value for money. We guarantee there are no hidden surcharges, no extras and no fees to be added later.

We do not inflate our prices or offer artificial discounts.

“Our holidays are specially designed with our discerning customers in mind. Every detail is considered and verified by a member of our team – from our selection of tour highlights to our hand-picked hotels.

Riviera Travel offers 80 group tours across Europe and the world, led by dedicated tour managers and expert guides.

Many of these tours have

T

he GTI team in Ireland is headed up by Derek Keogh. .

It organises itineraries in six categories, Worldwide, European, battlefield, cooking, cycling and a specialist agricultural section, which will visit the Basque country next year.

GTI have 58 tours in all in 2018 including nine battlefield tours, five of them to Flanders and the Somme where they visit sites of relevance to the Irish such as the graves of Willie Redmond and Francis Ledwidge.

E

ach of the companies highlights its offering for solo travellers.

Escorted tours have always been popular with solo travellers, who are used to being penalised for chosing to travel alone. Now they are witnessing a new development, the wannabe solo travellers who leaves friends and family to join a group tour to satisfy a personal ambition or bucket list item Intrepid Travel has seen a 38pc growth in solo travellers over the past five years. In one year one of the solo travel

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 19

ESCORTED TOURS specialists saw a rise of 34pc.

Wendy Wu Tours has seen a 13pc increase in the number of 50-plus solo female travellers over the past three years, compared with an 8pc increase among men the same age, and women are opting for longer and more adventurous tours to boot. Single travellers make up 18oc of Wendy Wu’s customer base.

Wendy Wu expanded their portfolio in experiential travel with the launch of ‘Immerse Yourself’, a collection of holidays offering cultural experiences and active adventures and off the beaten track travel to China, Southeast Asia, India and Japan.

They offer four-wheel drives through the sand dunes of The Gobi Desert, hiking to see sunrise over the Himalayas, cyc-

somethings’.

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xplore escorted tours launched 80 new tours its 2014/15 collection with over 80 new tours on offer in destinations including Guinea Bissau in West Africa, Taiwan and Colombia’s Lost City, in addition to a new range of ‘food and drink’ tours.

Death Valley USA ling in Udaipur, exploring Saigon on a Vespa to meditating with a Taoist priest on Weibaoshan mountain

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n obvious trend is the growth in active tours which is accelerating and expanding beyond the obvious destinations and

clientele.

Cycling is becoming more popular as people look for new ways to explore a destination rather than simply view it through a window.

Ebikes are ubiquitous in tourist destinations and have made the uphill climbs more manageable.

“Hike, Bike and Kayak” tours are ap-

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pearing on more itineraries. Siome companies offer white-water rafting and sailing.

Even companies targeted towards an older audience, has brought in walking holidays to Switzerland and Austria where, of season, ski gondolas do most of the work for you bringing you to within a short hike

of the mountain peaks.

John Grehan heads up the G Adventures offering in Ireland and has increased the group’s activities with the trade,including a recent fam to Vietnam and Cambodia.

Recently, G Adventures has rebranded its ‘Yolo’ programme of tours for younger travellers to ‘18-to-Thirty-

I

n the modern age Customers are choosing to holiday in seemingly safer destinations, such as Spain and Italy, or opting for the convenience and organisation of an escorted tour, allowing scope for sightseeing, cultural interaction and adventure, but with the guidance and support of an accompanying tour leader.

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Flight Centre Follow The Camino Galicia Tourism Board Giant Hospitality Gites De France Morbihan and Marne Go North Wales Heritage Island - Ireland’s Premier Attractions Hertz Rent-a-Car Hidden in Spain Hotel Beacon NYC Hotel Westport House of Waterford Crystal Hurtigruten Ibiza Tourist Office I’Hippocampe Camping Independent News & Media Inishowen Insight Vacations Irish Hotels Federation Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA) Japan National Tourist Organisation Japan Airlines Japan Rail Pass JMG Travel Kansas/Oklahoma Travel & Tourism KelAir Campotel Keller Travel Kilkenny Tourism Killarney Tourism Killybegs

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10/16/17 12:17 PM

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 22

WEDDINGS & HONEYMOONS SPECIAL

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our thousand of the 25,000 Irish a year who choose to tie the knot, do so abroad.

Getting married abroad is big business. Weddings are a €32m business, not including flights and accommodation. With an average of 25 people travelling for 4,000 Irish weddings abroad the business is worth €82m.

Several of the travel industry’s big names produce dedicated brochures for the “cupid market”, as its called in the trade.

The general idea is to first choose the destination, and the hotel that offers the most attractive wedding package, and then check the full details of the holiday (including prices) in the main brochure.

Charges for the wedding itself vary widely.

In fact, in many cases, the ceremony and paperwork are thrown in free if the couple stays for a week or more. That’s because wily companies are really interested in what they will spend on the honeymoon (understandably, as we all tend to splash out here).

As well as the tempting brochures, most have a team of matrimonial experts to advise on the legal logistics and run through the options available at different hotels.

The prospect of spending the happiest day of their lives in a draughty church tempts couples to sunnier climes, but the fact that getting married abroad is just a third of the cost of getting married at home is even more appealing.

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he cost of a wedding abroad has risen and now costs just over €8,000.

This is still attractive compared with as an average €23,000 for an Irish-based ceremony.

This figure, importantly, does not include guest ac-

Brides abroad Preparing the big day

commodation or flights.

Not that people want to go abroad for a cheap wedding. Nobody wants a cheap wedding. They still want a fairytale wedding and a happily every after. They want something special.

Wedding planners are increasing in number and expertise in the details of the wedding. The travel trade has the expertise to add the flights, transfers and accommodation, as well as taking over the hassle of dealing with the tricky business of the details of the wedding ceremony itself.

The average wedding abroad involves 25 people, so it is good business for the travel trade.

It enables the agent having a long term relationship with the customer.

Most of the serious discussion takes place between a year and two years ahead of the event.

Your clients are more needy than the average and a degree of counselling is helpful.

If you make it easy, you will get the bookings.

The packages available include photography, the ceremony itself, flowers, music wedding planning support, extras like cake

and transport.

When they are thinking of getting married tempt them to talk. Use photos and videos in selling the product. Cite testimonials. eddings are well-suited for promotion on social media: 90pc of brides now research their wedding online. Offline as well as online, networking is huge. Every wedding guest is a potential customer or source of advice to another couple.

Communicate a clear package with a package price they can get their head around. If you don’t have a precise package to offer them the planning process gets stalled.

Once they have a package they can add on to that.

The commission from wedding packages is important but there are other commissionable elements, guest accommodation and travel, pre wedding and post wedding activities, and guest activities, reconnaissance visits in advance, and wedmoons.

Many consider getting married abroad: 75pc of couples say they looked at getting married away from home, and

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48pc say they requested quotes. Even if they do not choose to get married abroad, many of these will be interested in using the travel trade for their honeymoon.

The overall resistance to the idea is declining, and the destination choice is expanding. They are not just interested in sun destinations, winter destinations feature too.

Point out that a wedding abroad has guaranteed weather, is more intimate and that there tends to be less family politics.

The couple really gets to know who their true friends are when they ask them to risk losing their luggage and patience on a low-cost airline flight.

The cost of flights, hotel accommodation and the fact that there is no Barry’s Tea available may deter a few of the older, more distant relatives — which in some circumstances, might be an advantage.

The cons of a wedding abroad tend to be that a family member is unable to travel due to health, family traditions, it is too difficult, they feel they have no control, they wouldn’t know where to

start, and it takes a lot more planning.

These fears are wellfounded; a surprising number of things may be beyond their control when they get married abroad.

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he timing of the wedding, for example, often depends on the availability of a registrar (or similar), and therefore can often be confirmed only on arrival; the couple’s request for a particular time will be noted, but often no more.

Also note that most registrars, especially in the Caribbean, only work Monday to Friday, so they often won’t be able to have the traditional Saturday wedding.

Ireland’s favourite wedding abroad destination is Italy, followed by Malta.

Italy’s Tuscany and Sorrento offer gorgeous backdrops to the special day. You can get married and have your papal audience on Wednesday in Rome, which a lot of couples still do.

Malta is popular because it is English-speaking, there is no residency

requirement, it has an attractive climate, direct flights and is groaning with churches.

Spain and France are next, with Cyprus, New York and Austria also in the hunt.

Florida, the Caribbean, Croatia, Prague, Greece and Turkey are all growing. Thomas Cook would bet that Cyprus and Lanzarote (Playa Blanca) are popular with their Irish customers.

Vegas is regarded as glitzy (rather than quickie) and relatively free of bureaucracy with some gorgeous honeymoon landscapes in the vicinity.

S

outh Africa, St Lucia, Mauritius or Antigua (the most popular venues) can cost a lot less than at home, while Greece and Cyprus have a huge range of accommodation and getting married there is far less bureaucratic than other short haul destinations such as France and Spain.

The Caribbean remains one of the most popular long haul locations. A lot of European countries do not allow a beach wedding. In the Caribbean it has become the norm.

Over the past few years Mauritius, Sri Lanka and the Seychelles have been growing.

More unusual locations are now being chosen away from the beach, such as Lapland and Iceland.

Organising an overseas wedding can involve a lot of bureaucracy, and not all countries perform wedding ceremonies that are legally recognised here.

It is the couple’s responsibility to provide their operator with all the documentation, such as passports and birth certificates.

Be certain to address the document question early — at least three months before the date — and remember that

Say “I do” in Italy

Venice - Veneto

Portofino - Liguria

Credit: Lake Como - IVASHstudio

Credit: Venice - iStock-Thinkstock / Lakov Kalinin

Credit: Borghi d’Italia Network

Credit: Archivio Provincia di Verona Turismo/Ferruccio Dall’Aglio

Verona - Veneto

Mondavio - Marche

Credit: Agenzia In Liguria

Nowhere spells Romance like Italy: from Romeo & Juliet’s Verona to a magical gondola ride in Venice; from that special church deep in the countryside to a breathtaking venue by the sea or on the Lakes, Italy is the place to say “I do”.

www.italia.it

113645 TE_Wedding_ITB_FP_ad.indd 1

9/29/17 1:41 PM

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 24

WEDDINGS & HONEYMOONS SPECIAL have churches on site.

They say their most popular places are Malcesine in Lake Garda ( and Scaliageri Castle), Sirmione, and of course Sorrento and Positano.

The bureaucracy of France, Italy and Spain has meant that the tiny island of Malta (you can fit two and half Maltas into Ireland’s smallest county, Louth) has been advancing rapidly up the aisle as the wedding destination of choice for hundreds of Irish couples each year.

they will often need to obtain local documents on arrival.

There will almost certainly be a fee for these.

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et the documents wrong at any stage of the hrudle race in this area and they won’t be getting married, whatever their destination.

Marry in St Lucia, for example, and the couple could need as many as nine different documents, more if either party has been divorced.

Getting the wedding of your dreams is enabled by good planning.

Requirements vary from country to country, but are broadly similar.

For a church ceremony, several months’ notice is often necessary. Civil weddings can usually be arranged at shorter notice.

Civil ceremonies are much easier to arrange than church weddings, but pretty much anything is possible if the couple has the patience and determination.

For most countries, the ground handler or wedding planner will require passport, original birth certificate, letters of freedom and proof of divorce or annulment, and a sworn affidavit, obtainable in Ireland, stating that both parties free to marry.

Stress that clients should follow the ground handler instructions, not those of the couple’s solicitor, who may claim that certain documents are not required in certain situations.

There may also be a certain length of time that the couple must reside in the country before a wedding can take place. Most famously, in France they have to be resident for least forty days prior to the ceremony.

France demands a syphilis certificate (issued by a doctor practicing in France certifying that

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you have been examined “en vue de mariage”) and a certificate of celibacy (stating that you are indeed single or divorced and are legally able to marry).

According to French law, the Banns must be published at the mairie of the commune in which you will be married 10 days before the civil marriage takes place. You must prove residency for 30 days and a ten day stay after the ceremony.

Spanish authorities may take 30 to 45 days to approve a marriage application. Policies and procedures vary from region to region.

Spanish law appears to permit foreigners who are not Spanish legal

residents to marry in Spain.

The different autonomous communities in Spain, however, interpret this law differently.

Outside Madrid, it may be required that one party be a citizen or resident of Spain.

In Italy, persons wishing to be married must appear with two witnesses and make a declaration of their intention to marry before the Ufficiale di Stato Civile (Civil Registrar) of the city or town where the marriage is to take place.

F

ollowing the declaration it is usually necessary for banns, or marriage announcement, to be posted

at the local comune (city hall) for two consecutive Sundays before the marriage occurs if one of the parties is Italian or if the Irish citizen is a resident of Italy.

Banns can be waived by the Ufficiale di Stato Civile if neither party to the marriage is Italian and neither is residing in Italy.

Local authorities require the presence of a translator if neither party speaks Italian.

Many couples get round this by having a small marriage ceremony in Ireland followed by a larger confirmation ceremony abroad.

Topflight have some enticing villa complexes in Tuscany, which also

alta has earned a steadily growing market share because of its easy bureaucracy residency stipulation of just three days, the close relationship between civil ceremony and church wedding, and the preponderance of churches and good hotels which offer a dazzling array of wedding options.

There are nearly 400 churches in Malta, one at every turn of the road, three times as many churches as pubs, the Irish eye will quickly gather. The most prominent building along the landscape is the parish church.

It has close cultural, economic and religious connections with Ireland: One of the oldest traditional wedding venue hotels, the Phoenician, is Irish-owned.

More importantly, a wedding in Malta will cost an average of €4,500, compared with the average of €23,000 at home. Plates for the wedding meal can come in at €15 with some good options at €30.

There are over 300 restaurants as well and everybody has decided to chase the wedding business. A couple can get married in a vineyard (Ta Mena Estate in Gozo), a historic palace (Palazzo Parisio, Naxxar) or even underwater (a Chinese

couple did it at the Azure Window in Dwejra, an impressive natural arch standing some twenty metres high).

Keep a weather eye on those local church charges, which can mount very quickly. In Malta the average “donation” required by the church is €500.

In contrast to France and Spain’s long ‘residency’ stipulation, Greece, Austria, the Czech Republic and Italy are all becoming feasible choices.

Now you can get married anywhere in Austria and all the locals speak English. Austria offers some romantic settings such as Zell am See. In summer you can get married on Lake Zell.

In winter. they have the wonderful Sissi church right at 2,000 metres on top of the mountain.

Bad Gastein has Gruner Baum hotel in the Hohe Tauern National Park – with its own church. St. Johann and Westendorf have also had Irish weddings. pain, France and Italy will all need someone to translate documents which adds expense and bureaucratic hurdles.

There are no residency requirements for getting married in Thailand; however the required paperwork will normally take at least two working days to complete before the marriage can be registered.

Most Caribbean islands stipulate that couples must have been resident at least 24 hours before the wedding, though on Barbados couples may marry on the day that they arrive. On St Lucia, they must have been on the island for at least two working days in advance.

In Mexico, blood tests for HIV are compulsory.

Turkey is big news too. This is an example of how booking a Turkish wedding works with Sunway:

S

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 26

AFLOAT VENICE The Italian Government moved to ban large cruise ships from docking near St Mark’s Square in Venice. Vessels larger than 100,000 tons will be required to dock in Marghera at an industrial port about 15 minutes from the historic city.

P&O Cruises is enforcing stricter rules on

its short-break sailings, including introducing a ban on fancy dress, novelty and offensive clothing. Two-to-five night cruises will no longer be advertised as ‘party’ or ‘celebration’ cruises and the company is also restricting the amount of alcohol to be brought on board.

ROYAL CARIBBEAN is

rolling out an app that it says will eradicate check-in lines, allow cruises to get drinks delivered to anywhere they are on the ship, and “transform” cabin ceilings into starry nights.

DUN LAOGHAIRE Businessmen Philip Gannon and Ian Lucey are to invest €20m in the former ferry terminal in Dún Laoghaire harbour to create a hub for technology, marine and design businesses.

ROYAL CARIBBEAN revealed three new features onboard Independence of the Seas following its refurbishment in April 2018, a chipper, ice cream bar and a sports bar.

NORWEGIAN

Cruise Line has appointed Karen Sequeira as marketing/PR director for Ireland, Britain, Middle East and Africa.

It is the latest restructuring by NCL which recently promoted Nick Wilkinson to Vice President and MD for Britain and Ireland, Middle East and Africa. Sequeira joins from Azamara Cruises where she headed up marketing/ PR.

ROSMUC Turning Rosmuc into a deep sea harbour could open up Connemara to cruise ship passengers, Galway County Council was told. A committee advocating the move said last summer alone 7,500 passengers arrived on ships into Killybegs in Donegal which can accommodate liners.

ROYAL CARIBBEAN The first block of Spectrum of the Seas was lowered into position during at the Neptun Werft shipyard in Rostock-Warnemunde in Germany.

CELEBRITY Cruises has confirmed a number of passengers have been struck down with a gastro bug on a New Zealand sailing onboard Celebrity Solstice. The line said at least 18 cruisers were affected by suspected norovirus, which seems to be a continuation from a previous sailing.

VIRGIN The first ship to be launched

by Virgin Voyages cruise line founded by Richard Branson, will be adults-only to tie in with the company’s goals to target Millennials.

The ship is being built in Italy’s Fincantieri shipyard which is also building MSC’s Seaside class of ships.

SILVERSEA announced free shore

excursions on Caribbean departures of Silver Muse cruises departing March 13 and 22, and Silver Wind cruises departing February 4, 18 and 25 and March 11, 23 and 30.

Celebrity Reflection: Five rotations in 2019 in succession to the mini season of Celebrity Eclipse in 2018

Celebrity returns

C

Five more rotations from Dublin port in 2019

elebrity Cruise Line is to homeport the 3,030-passenger Celebrity Reflection in Dublin for a second mini-season in April 2019 after ‘strong guest demand’ for the debut season.

It will offer a series of eight, 10, 11 and 12-night sailings from Dublin.

Cruises will sail to Iceland, he Norwegian Fjords and around Britain and Ireland.

In 2018 Celebrity Cruises be-

comes the first major cruise line to homeport a ship in the city when Celebrity Eclipse arrives in Dublin in April 2018, offering a mini season of five sailings. Due to the success of this inaugural season, The minis seaosn wil bring 15,000 holidaymakers to start their cruise holiday in Dublin.

Celebrity Reflection launched in 2012 and is currently the newest ship in the Celebrity Cruises fleet.

Featuring a real grass lawn on the top deck with private cabanas and the Reflection Suite, a one-of-a-kind two bedroomed suite with a shower cantilevered out above the ocean, and private butler service.

Celebrity say the expansion of their Ireland programme follows strong guest demand for cruises from Dublin, and the support of the Irish travel industry including travel agents and Dublin Port.

DUBLIN PORT EXPECTS 152 CRUISE SHIPS 2018

D

ublin port has a record 152 cruise ship calls on the books for 2018.

Pat Ward of Dublin port says that work is well underway with dredging having commenced in the harbour and a a completion date of 2021 is in sight.

The redevelopment of

the port will see Alexandra Basin transformed and 120m removed from the north wall extension to creating a turning space for larger ships.

Historically Dublin could only handle ships of 300 m lengths. This changed in 2015 when Harbourmaster David Bingham used a simu-

lator to show as larger cruise ships could be reversed into position.

MSC Splendida was the first 330m ship to reverse into the port.

Ward says construction of a terminal could be justified if Dublin port had a greater turnover of cruise ships.

Pat Ward

IRISH FERRIES OFFER FRANCE DAILY

I

rish Ferries sailings schedule it will introduce daily sailings to France following the arrival in mid-2018 of its new 55,000 tonnes cruise ferry WB Yeats currently being built in Flensburg, Germany.

The company will offer daily departures alternatively from both Dublin and Rosslare ports. This is coupled with an increase in autumn/winter sailings frequency, and an expansion in passenger, car and freight carrying capacities

on the company’s prime Ireland Britain route between Dublin and Holyhead.

MD Andrew Sheen said the plan is “to be welcomed by all interests and one that will give a significant boost to Irish tourism

and trade”, the proposed new sailings and scheduling arrangements will, he said, “give passengers and freight customers alike, more choice in terms of routes and departure dates, particularly on services to France.”

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JANUARY 2018 PAGE 28

THE FLYING COLUMN

Aviation with Gerry O’Hare

BOXEVER’s Customer Intelligence Cloud is to be used by Aer Lingus to harvest guest data, historical, behavioural and purchasing insights to gain a holistic view across digital and offline channels. This allows Aer Lingus to better anticipate and deliver on the needs of its guests, creating a true personalised customer journey. Brands from all across the globe – including Emirates, Air New Zealand, eDreams ODIGEO, Cebu Pacific, Viva Aerobus and Brussels Airlines – rely on Boxever to help acquire, convert and retain customers. The company is headquartered in Dublin.

NORWEGIAN plans to increase its capacity 25pc next year. Norwegian’s announcement actually represented a significant scale-back of Norwegian’s previous growth plans for next year. Analysts say this signals that management somewhat understands that the market’s fear of hyper-growth. Norwegian reports October 2017 passenger numbers up 14pc to 3.1m, with RPKs up 29pc, ASKs up 31pc, and LF of 87.4pc. Revenue per ASK in NOK is estimated down 8pc

WIZZ Air is reported to be taking a 49pc stake in a bankrupt Turkish regional airline Borajet . The airline will start flying as Wizz Air Turkey. Initially, five A320’s will be based in the country up to 10 by mid-2018.

RYANAIR Speaking at a press conference at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Ryanair’s chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said the airline had hoped to introduce an integrated system enabling customers to buy long haul tickets with its rival earlier this year. The airline now anticipates this starting with the first half of 2018. Jacobs said the airline hoped to be able to offer flights from other carriers in the IAG stable and said it was happy to work with any airline.

DUBLIN Airport reached 2.6m, up 4pc

ion last year and a record for the month with nine month figures up 6pc to 25.3m, on course for 29.6m passengers in 2016. Britain is down 2pc to 841,000 Europe up 2pc to 1.3m, North Atlantic up 14pc to 69,000 and other up 16pc, domestic up 6pc to 8,000.

WESTAIR Aviation, Shannon, has joined the Avfuel Network of fuelling locations as the aircraft management company adds full fuelling and ground-handling services as a US-style FBO operating its own dedicated refuelling trucks.

SAS expects the expansion of total market capacity in autumn and winter 2017/2018 to accelerate and wants to grow 1-3pc. To meet the increase in market capacity, SAS is proposing efficiency enhancements and greater flexibility in its production platform.

SWEDEN-based cargo airline West Atlantic is considering looking for additional shareholders to recapitalise operations, in the light of costly delays in bringing in B737-400 freighter conversions to its fleet.

MERIDIANA is to be renamed Air Italy in hopes of becoming the national carrier of Italy.

Seattle is Aer Lingus 15th trans Atlantic destination

A dozen A321s

Aer Lingus considers expanding their Airbus order

A

er Lingus launched its 15th direct North American route to Seattle, within weeks of commencing its 14th route to Miami and announcing its 15th route to Philadelphia.

The strong tech presence in Seattle tempted Aer Lingus to make the move. They negotiated an extra A330 on lease in recent weeks.

It is an indication on how fast the airline is in reacting to market opportunities as it looks to expand.

Up to ten trans Atlantic routes will follow as Aer Lingus raises the number of A321LR aircraft it would take into its fleet from eight to twelve. .The airline says it has cities that could be served from Dublin with the new long-range Airbus A321LR it will take delivery of between 2019 and 2020.

Speaking at a conference call after IAG’s Q3 results IAG CEO Willie Walsh said Aer Lingus unit revenue on the transatlantic clearly declines this year versus last year, that’s the plan with the capacity that they’re putting in there: the profitability of Aer Lingus has improved, so Aer Lingus model is very clear.

“The value proposition that they have involves them being able to continue to reduce their unit cost which is what they’ve been doing.

They have had a very strong unit

cost performance and that enables them to be even more price competitive and that the fascinating thing about Aer Lingus, as Aer Lingus goes into these new transatlantic markets and is profitable from the start.

Aer Lingus growth does have a dilutive factor on the group reported unit revenue.

We said publicly that we did make a bid for part of Airberlin, principally to parts that went to Lufthansa: it was Niki that we were interested in.

“We are clearly going to watch with interest how the competition regulators view the Lufthansa acquisition of Niki in Austria and the residual parts of Airberlin in Germany to see what remedies are appropriate.

“I see lots of airlines pursuing rapid growth at ridiculous cost. It’s not a sustainable situation and we’re not going to participate in that.

“We learned from our experience that while the growth figures may look impressive, the profitability figures look very un-impressive.

“I think you will find more and more airlines will do what we’ve done this year and will calibrate to what it is they can do within their own means.

“We are aware of airlines in the low-cost segment in Europe out there desperately looking for wet lease capacity for next year and are asking

us for capacity.

Mr Walsh said that Aer Lingus transatlantic routes have been profitable from the moment they launch, rather than months after they’ve been bedded down, and that US airports regularly approach him eager to have Aer Lingus serve them.

He said that all those cities were unlikely to operate to all 10 proposed US destinations from Dublin and warned that IAG’s expansion of the Aer Lingus network is dependent on delivery of infrastructure improvements at Dublin Airport. “What is required now is a more efficient Dublin Airport within the existing infrastructure.

He said the impact of the pilot rostering fiasco at Ryanair has been “blown out of proportion”, and that IAG itself is not having any difficulty in sourcing pilots.

“The issues are specific to airlines that have pursued strong growth where they need captains, that’s the bottleneck.”

Elsewhere headset improvements are next on the agenda for Aer Lingus with new long-haul meals, a €1m entertainment system upgrade.

This autumn there will be new south apron gates for short-haul walk-on, walk-off.

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 29

THE FLYING COLUMN

Aviation with Gerry O’Hare MONARCH Administrators for failed British airline Monarch are seeking an “urgent” appeal after losing a High Court battle over “valuable” runway slots it wants to exchange with other carriers to raise cash for creditors.

The judge declared: “Accordingly, the consequence of our decision is that the summer 2018 slots are to be placed in the slot pool.”

They refused a “stay” on their order in respect of Manchester and Birmingham airports, but granted one in relation to Gatwick and Luton until November 17 or until further order.

FLYBE announced results for the half

year to end September, broadly in line with the warning given on October 18. Flybe English passenger numbers grew by 8.8pc, with seat factor up 4 points to 76pc and revenue per seat up 8.8pc to £55.29. Cost per seat in constant currency was up 10pc due a provision on an onerous IT contract, high Dash8 400 maintenance costs and low sterling. Strategy remains on track to reduce fleet size to an optimum level for the number of identified profitable routes and make the business demand-driven rather than capacity-led.

BMI Regional Chief commercial officer Michael O’Leary reassured institutional investors in the wake of the cancellation crisis

Who said crisis?

Markets respond as Ryanair keeps profit guidance

R

yanair CEO Michael O’Leary reassured investors at the company’s AGm that rostering and pilot issues will be resolved in “coming weeks and months” “We took some very tough and very painful decisions to cancel 50 flights a day,” he told investors. “We did disrupt a lot of passengers. We did suffer reputational damage.” He could afford the humility, because the company’s half-year numbers were solid. Despite all the controversy, Ryanair’s profits had risen by 11pc for the first six months of its financial year to the end of September, a figure of €1.29 bn. That’s in spite of a fall in traffic in the second quarter of that period and exceptional costs of €261m.

Ryanair shares peaked at €19.39

in August but €2bn was wiped off the company’s market value amid pilot rostering issues and questions about its business model.

The company, by its estimations and those of the equity analysts that cover it, was still on course for a fullyear profit of between €1.4bn and €1.45bn.

The market responded to the reassurances. It helps that Ryanair has a reputation for being cautious about its guidance, in contrast to its brash public relations reputation, when it comes to the bottom line it tends to be extremely conservative.

O’Leary hinted that Ryanair will need to discount more aggressively, that they will have higher pilot costs, and will have to keep load factors high.

Analysts say Ryanair has built a

significant amount of slack into the guidance and could absorb setbacks.

While the headline guidance hadn’t changed, a number of the factors underlying that figure had changed.

Volume growth is down and the cost base is up. This, the company says, will be offset by better price development, but they admit that visibility is weak for the winter months.

The company points out that the cost of the new contracts to pilots will be about €45m for the year and an additional €100m a year in the future.

O’Leary said that while the offer of “increases of up to €22,000 for captains, €11,000 for first officers” had been accepted by 15 bases, “a number of the remaining bases, most notably Stansted, have turned down those increases.”

RYANAIR LAUNCHES 4 PRODUCTS

R

yanair has launched Ryanair Tickets, in partnership with Coras, allowing customers to book tickets for London West End shows.

The launch was one of

four initiatives unveiled this month at Ryanair’s Web Summit. It also unveiled a major upgrade to its Ryanair Rooms website, launched in October last year, offering custom-

ers a wider choice of hotel, hostel, B&B, holiday villa and homestay options.

Improvements to its personalised MyRyanair product means passengers can now see their preferred

and most recently searched routes, as well as recommended products and services based on type of trip.

Ryanair has also launched a dedicated Chinese website.

Jochen Schnadt said he plans to expand outside England as it aims to connect the industrial cities of Europe. “Expansion for us will be in the industrialised parts of German-speaking Europe, the Nordics, central and eastern Europe, where there may be long distances to connect to Europe’s industrial hubs.”

WIZZ Air estimates it will grow capacity by about 23pc this year and keep its non-fuel costs broadly flat. Including fuel, cost per available seat km is expected to rise by 1 percent. Its forecast for revenue per available seat km is for a slight increase. The airline reported October 2017 passenger numbers up 30.5pc to 2.6m, with capacity up 27.5pc, and LF up 2.1 points to 92.1pc. Wizz reported a €288.6m net profit in the six months to end September. Revenue jumped 24.8pc to €1.15bn as ticket and ancillary revenue showed strong growth, particularly over the peak summer travel months.

RYANAIR announced it would extend its connecting flights service to Porto Airport from January 3 2018 for passengers travelling within the Schengen area. Routes on the press release are not the same as the website.

WOW Air is to add Keflavik-JFK daily

from 27Apr with A321. It already serves Newark NJ daily, going to 13 pw next summer. The airline plans to grow 40pc in 2018, reaching 4m passengers by year-end and is looking at setting up a local office in Asia, as it contemplates US-Asia services via its Reykjavik hub.

It seeks to emulate Finnair’s success in using its northerly latitude base for “short cuts” over the polar ice cap to Far East destinations.

GECAS General Electric is exploring options for GECAS, including the sale of all or part of the business, following Expressions of Interest from some of its competitors.

PILOTS It was reported 3,000 qualified pilots have applied for 100 vacancies in Aer Lingus.

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 30

THE FLYING COLUMN

Aviation with Gerry O’Hare

UNITED

is considering new B767s as Boeing considers restarting production of a passenger version. Boeing stopped making the passenger version of the twin-aisle plane three years ago but recently increased production for use as military tankers and freighters.

DRONESAR Donegal based start-up, DroneSAR Ltd won the European Commission prize at the awards ceremony for the 14th European Satellite Navigation Competition.

IAA

has extended Shannon’s Free Route Airspace into Shannon’s lower airspace (below flight level 245), building on the success of Free Route Airspace which has been operational since 2009 in the Shannon Upper Information Region Shannon Oceanic Transition Area (and Northern Oceanic Transition Area.

AERCAP Gus Kelly said AerCap continue to be active sellers of mid-life aircraft and is experiencing delays on certain variants of the A320neo family aircraft and the A350 that are scheduled to deliver to Chinese operators this quarter.

AERCAP’s portfolio consisted of 1,506 aircraft owned, on order or managed at end September (including aircraft owned by AerDragon, a non-consolidated joint venture).

AerCap acted quickly and decisively with Air Berlin and Monarch and rapidly secured control of their aircraft, a total of 22 owned and managed aircraft comprising of 10 A330s and 12 A320 family aircraft. 17 of these aircraft are already remarketed. The average age of the owned fleet was 7.1 years and the average remaining contracted lease term was 6.6 years.

AerCap reported US$265.8m net income on $1.27b revenues in 2017 Q3 vs $225.6m on $1.23b in 2016 Q3.

RYANAIR BRAND The monthly

brand image study by media agency Core Media said Ryanair’s brand image plunge following its flight cancellation crisis represented recorded one of the biggest drops in brand vitality it has ever witnessed. Core Media strategic planner Thomas Geoghegan said “for the first time ever, Ryanair’s brand sentiment went negative.”

DUBLIN AEROSPACE

Conor McCarthy hired the first 48 additional team members in a 150 job expansion at Dublin Airport. Since Dublin Aerospace’s start-up in 2009 annual turnover has risen from €7m to €46m last year and the company have been profitable since our second year in operation.

Malta international airport

Belfast Malteaser Ryanair withdraws from Belfast to Gatwick route

R

yanair launched its Belfast summer 2018 schedule, with 14 routes in total including continuing the twice-weekly winter route to Malta.

The suspended Belfast-London service will be reinstated from March 1st, operating to London Stan-

appointed by the High Court over shares in three Irish-registered aviation firms allegedly linked to fugitive Russian businessman Rashid M Mursekayev.

RYANAIR reported passenger numbers up 8pc to 11.8m in October, the same level in September, with seat factor up 1 point to 96pc, down from a world record 97pc. The rolling 12 month total was 128.2m, up 12pc. Official release here.

magh Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson raised questions about Ryanair suspending the service. He has since been told by the European Commission, who approved the IAG takeover, that Ryanair decided to surrender the slots. This decision puts in perspective Ryanair’s appetite for

Gatwick slots from Monarch.

EasyJet reacted to Ryanair’s intervention on Belfast-Gatwick by dropping price and increasing capacity, much as Ryanair has defended itself against EasyJet elsewhere when it entered Dublin, Knock and Shannon.

of European cities including London, Luxembourg, Munich, and Milan, will expand to a number of destinations next year including Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, and Geneva, as well as Dublin.

The airline does not own or operate any aircraft, instead it arranges travel and other services solely as a “manager” of its membership program and as an agent of its membership.

All flights arranged by Surf Air for its members are performed by independent, third party FAA-licensed and DOT-registered air carriers, according to the airline.

compared to BA or Iberia.

For IAG as a whole, passenger traffic was up 4.4pc with a 1.7pc increase on International European routes and 4.3pc growth on North American routes.

The average passenger load factor was 83.4pc,

up 1.4 points with international Europe at 83.1pc, up 2.5 points, and North America 83.9pc, up 0.2 points.

Cargo was up 4.6pc.

BA passenger traffic was up 1.9pc and passenger lf 82.4pc, up 1.0 points.

SURF AIR PLANS DUBLIN FLIGHTS

S

urf Air, which provides an all-youcan-fly service for a monthly fee, is to commence flights from Dublin next year.

The airline, which curSHANNON Group appointed AerCap rently operates in a number Ireland CEO Tom Kelly as new board member.

MURSEKAYEV A receiver was

sted instead of Gatwick and at lower frequency than previously.

Ryanair had obtained its Gatwick slots from IAG, in fact from Aer Lingus which closed its Belfast City-Gatwick route to get approval for the takeover

by IAG. Earlier this year, Ar-

AER LINGUS UP 6.4pc IN OCTOBER

A

er Lingus passenger traffic in October was 6.4pc up on October 2016 with a passenger load factor of 81.3pc, down 1.0 points.

Cargo carried was up 27pc but is still low relative to passenger traffic

Iberia passenger traffic was up 10.6pc and passenger lf was 86.1pc, up 3.1 points.

Vueling passenger traffic was up 4.9pc and passenger lf was 84.8pc, up 1.8 points. Iberia did best in passenger volume growth and Vueling in load factor.

u

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 31

THE FLYING COLUMN

Aviation with Gerry O’Hare ESA Two Irish scientists, Stephen O’Connor and Kim Heary, have won a national competition to train at the ESA European Space Research and Technology Centre in the Netherlands with the aim of contributing to breakthrough space science and technology.

SWISS International Airlines long-haul

leisure subsidiary Edelweiss Air CEO Bernd Bauer confirmed plans to grow its fleet from 10 to 15 aircraft by the end of 2018. Three of the five aircraft to be added are A320s, including two formerly used by airberlin.

TURKISH Airlines reported net profit up 278.8pc to US$697m for 2017 Q3, with revenues up 23.1pc to $3.6bn, and cash and cash equivalents at $2.4bn at period end.

A4A Airlines for America chief economist Aer Lingus map outlining potential A321 destinations

A happy fleet

A

24 US pointed aircraft for Aer Lingus by 2021

er Lingus say capacity is up 22pc since the IAG take-over in 2015 According to a presentation to investors, passenger revenue is down 8pc, cost per ASK down 81pc and cost per ASK down 19pc.

Rolling 12-month operating profit has improved from about €60m to almost €250m and operating margin from 4pc to 13pc, excluding certain undefined non-recurring items.

Third quarter 2017 seems to have been roughly in line with 2016 Q3.

Return on invested capital has risen from about 8pc to about 23pc, well ahead of the IAG target of 15pc, and held steady over the past year.

The long haul planned annual growth rate was shown as about 8pc.

The fleet of eight A330-300 and four A330-200 is shown from November 2017 through to summer 2022. n four A321LR are to arrive in 2019, n four more in 2020 and n four more in 2021, total 12 of which eight are committed from Air Lease Corporation. n one B757 is to go in 2020 and the remaining three in 2021.

That will leave total fleet numbers 16 in 2018, 20 in 2019, 23 in 2020

and 24 in 2021 and 2022.

With unspecified new routes, a 55pc increase in weekly North Atlantic rotations is indicated from a 101 in summer 2017 (with 15 aircraft).

Return on investment above 15pc is predicted for 2017-27.

A potential opportunistic upside in 2018 is referred to. That would reduce the large capacity increase required in 2019.

Aer LIngus says the A321LR will provide access to new markets, “driving aircraft utilisation benefits and opening up crew efficiency opportunities with an ability to fly long-haul and short-haul sectors and improve network reach.”

“It will provide additional flow and O&D opportunities with consistent product end-to-end North America-Europe.”

Aer Lingus produced a map of the US highlighting the range capability from Dublin and percentages of population claiming Irish ancestry.

Aer Lingus plans to capture 8085pc of its transatlantic passengers by offering the lowest cost direct distribution and to continue to increase North American point of sale traffic.

It will operate a volume active

strategy for both long haul (85pc and short haul (85pc).

Network opportunities are predicted from planned entry into the BA-Iberia-Finnair-American Airlines Joint Business Agreement.

In the US, Aer Lingus is seen as better positioned than major competitors [BA, AA?] to exploit value brand segments, but weaker in luxury brand segments.

In Europe, low single digit ASK growth is planned, resourced through asset utilisation with higher load factor targeted before increased investment in fleet assets.

This includes capitalising on profitable short-haul network and maintaining relevant position in key European markets and growing European leisure markets.

Higher asset utilisation is seen through short haul integration of A321LRs. They intend using ACMI to counter seasonality.

Creating an end-to-end digital experience for all guests is emphasised.

New engine deals are specifically identified as an area for cost saving as are airport user charges, probably utilising IAG leverage to identify cost synergies.

SUKHOI LCY LICENSE DELAYED

C

ityJet’s Sukhoi SSJ100 SuperJet will likely remain in the lease and charter markets until approved for the London City airport from 201) to return to

regular scheduled flying.

It will probably add back seasonal London City routes to Florence, Avignon and Toulon in summer18 with Avro RJ85 aircraft.

It has 14 of these in service, and plans to retire four at end 2017, probably three in 2018 and to be out of the type in 2019 or 2020, probably 2019.

It is not planning further airline acquisitions but would be ready to make them from a major carrier as part of a wet-lease arrangement.

John Heimlich said the nine publicly traded US airlines’ yield rose just 0.6pc year-overyear and claimed US airlines are “really lagging on prices,”

FAA unveiled an Aviation Rulemaking

Committee’s long-awaited recommendations to modify the 1,500-hour training requirement for first officers, effectively giving credit for relevant experience.

QATAR

expects to report a loss in the financial year to March 31, 2018, as a result of the blockade by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Qatar Airways’ investment strategy has seen it acquire 20pc of IAG, 10pc of South America’s LATAM Airlines Group and 49pc of Italy’s Meridiana. CEO Akbar Al Baker said Qatar Airways wants to create a virtual mega-carrier that will benefit from economies of scale in negotiations on fuel and aircraft purchases while it boosts investment in other airlines,

AIRASIA Group consolidated AOCs reported 2017 Q4 passenger numbers up 12pc to 9.89m, with LF up 14pc, and total fleet of 110 aircraft.

CATHAY

shares have risen by 29.4pc since the start of January despite the airline in August posting its worst first-half loss in 20 years.

VIRGIN Australia chairman Elizabeth Bryan said the airline group’s board has discussed the matter of whether the company should be taken private. Five major shareholders Etihad Airways, HNA Group, Nanshan, Singapore Airlines and UK-based Virgin Group hold more than 90pc of the company.

CASC Boeing and Chinese aircraft lessor CASC have signed an agreement for 300 aircraft, in a deal the US company values at more than USD$37bn at list prices. The agreement, signed during a ceremony in Beijing in front of Chinese President Xi and US President Trump, includes orders and commitments for 300 single and twin-aisle planes, already included in the Boeing order stats of 320 737, 777 and 787 aircraft on its books assigned to unidentified customers.

AER LINGUS REGIONAL / Stobart Air will offer 275,000 seats and 3,800 flights to/from Cork during Summer 2018.

u u

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 32

THE FLYING COLUMN

Aviation with Gerry O’Hare

BA cabin crew dispute which began in December 2016 and led to more than 80 days of strikes by mixed fleet staff has been resolved ETIHAD appointed Dave Walsh as new

manager for South East Asia. The role covers a vast territory to include Bangkok, Ho-chi-min City, Manila, Singapore, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur where he is currently based. Dave previously headed up BMI in Ireland and Travelport before joining Etihad

AIR SEYCHELLES Roy Kinnear is leaving his job as CEO at Air Seychelles to become the new chief commercial officer for Flybe.

SHANNON born Andrew Kelly has been elected president of the European Regions Airline Association, a representative body for 53 airlines and 22 airports, including Shannon. The director of corporate affairs at ASL Aviation is a former journalist, who also worked with Aer Lingus and Aer Arann.

FINNAIR is to start weighing passen-

gers to gather data in the hopes of slashing operating costs, so it can better estimate fuel requirements.

AIR FRANCE KLM confirmed that

it will follow Lufthansa and IAG and impose an unspecified distribution surcharge on GDS sales from April 1. The surcharge will not apply to travel agency sales via Iata’s New Distribution Capability connection and to Air France and KLM direct sales channels.

TRAVELPORT CEO Gordon Wil-

son has dismissed the New Distribution Capability connectivity of BA and Iberia as “not fit for purpose”.

ETIHAD Airways is axing its route

to Dallas/Fort Worth following American Airlines’ “unilateral decision” to terminate a codeshare agreement with the Gulf carrier.

BRITISH Airways’ only father-daughter Boeing 777 pilot team have flown together for the final time. David and Kat Woodruffe touched down at London Heathrow after completing his retirement flight from New York.

KERRY Minister Brendan Griffin turned out to help launch the Ryanair Kerry to Berlin route. Load factors are high for the first month of operation, with most customers ex Ireland.

ASL profits dipped 5pc last year to €7.9m,

despite revenue soaring to €738m from €377m as it completed the acquisition of operations including TNT Airways. Pre-tax profits were down 5pc before exceptional items (impairment costs of €5.2m, mainly Quikjet India goodwill, acquisition costs of €0.8m and other restructuring costs of €1.6m). When these are included, pre-tax profit slumped 52pc.

FOOD SCARE Some American

Airlines flights out of LA had to depart without an in-flight meal service due to a food scare.

Potentially dangerous listeria was found at a facility run by Gate Gourmet which is used by the airline

Takeoff from Knock

Knock wants 750k

Ireland west airport heads for 2pc growth in 2017

K

nock airport is forecasting close to 750,000 passengers during 2017 which would be a 2pc increase on 2016.

Airport accounts state growth in passenger numbers by 7pc or 48,000 to 733,869 and revenue growth by 3pc to €12.6m was fuelled by new services to Birmingham and Edinburgh with Flybe, to Costa Dorada and the arrival of one off charter ser-

vice from Boston with Aer Lingus.

They predict that the airport continued to benefit from the development of the Wild Atlantic Way and the airport’s location at its centre.

Pre-tax profits at the company that operates Ireland West Airport Knock last year increased by 473pc to €642,788. In a record-breaking year the airport’s The airport last year

celebrated its 30th anniversary and the directors state that the airport company would have recorded a pretax loss of €324,977 but for the funding received from the Department of Transport.

The airport Numbers employed by the airport last year increased from 117 to 130 with staff costs increasing from €4.9m to €5.32m. Directors’ remuneration decreased to €167,999. Shareholder

funds total €2.96m. The company’s cash balance increased threefold to €4.7m.

The directors state that the airport is continuing its pursuit of an airline partner to establish seasonal US services and is pursuing opportunities with the recent market entrants, Norwegian and WOW air.

The airport now reaches 22 international destinations,16 of which are scheduled services.

loans secured on three tracts of lands at the airport, some previously held in Nama, and will lend up to €4m in working capital to advance the project.

The land comprises a total of 128 acres at Huntstown and Dunbro Lane,

and was previously held by companies owned by the McEvaddys, the Monks family and Gerry Gannon who no longer has an interest in the lands.

Tri-Aviation Project Co, a new company, has bought the lands with the

backing of Tricap, and the McEvaddys and Gerard and Karen Monks..

It is expected that the McEvaddy group will now seek to advance their terminal proposal to the authorities”. .

McEVADDY’S PROPOSE PRIVATE T3

T

RICAP Investments, a Dubai finance group, is advancing up to €35m to resurrect Mayo brothers Ulick and Des McEvaddy’s proposed Terminal 3 project at Dublin airport..

Tricap has refinanced

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MORE SEATS FOR WINTER

rowth in airline seats from Europe will accelerate to 7.2pc in winter 2017/2018, versus 5.7pc last winter, according to analysis from the Centre for Aviation.

This is a percentage point lower than without Monarch Airlines’ collapse and Ryanair’s reduced growth, but will still be the highest winter growth for ten years.

The Europe – Africa market will grow the fastest, but there will be above trend growth in almost every other region from Europe (including intra-Europe), apart from

Europe – Middle East, where growth will be close to trend and Europe – Latin America where growth will be significantly slower than last winter

RDS Hall 3, Ballsbridge

Presented by

THURSDAY 12th APRIL 2018

EXHIBITOR PROFILE

VISITOR PROFILE

• Airlines

• International Hotels/Resorts

• Airports

• Insurance

• Attraction Tickets

• Media

• Bed Banks

• National/Regional Tourist Organisations

• Car Rental • Cruise Companies • Ferries • Financial Services including Credit Cards

• Technology and Communications Companies • Theme & Leisure Parks • Ticketing Agents

• Golf Resorts and Related Services

• Trade Associations

• Ground Handling

• Tour Operators

An initiative of the ITAA supported by Travel Centres, Worldchoice and Travelsavers

Travel Agent Proprietors, Managers and Frontline Travel Professionals.

PROMOTION OF THE SHOW A comprehensive promotional programme will ensure a high turnout of travel agent proprietors, managers and frontline travel professionals.

FREE EXHIBITOR & VISITOR CAR PARKING

• Travel Agents

• Health Resorts & Spas

BOOK YOUR STAND NOW! VENUE

2018 DATE AND TIME

ORGANISERS

CONTACTS

RDS Hall 3 Anglesea Road Ballsbridge Dublin DO4 AK83 Ireland t. +353 (0)1 668 0866 w. www.rds.ie

Thursday 12th April 2018 2.00pm – 7.00pm

The Irish Travel Trade Show is organised on behalf of The Irish Travel Agents Association by Business Exhibitions Limited 59 Rathfarnham Road Terenure Dublin D6W AK70

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

www.irishtraveltradeshow.com 112200 TRADE SHOW APRIL 2018_V1.indd 1

5/8/17 2:57 PM

u

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 34

GLOBAL VILLAGE

Inside the Travel Business

AWARDS Voting opened for the 2018 Irish Travel Industry Awards and member agencies can vote online until Friday December 8. The awards, for which Aer Lingus are headline sponsors, take place in the Round Room at the Mansion House on January 25.

u u

TRAVEL SOLUTIONS Don Clarke is joining Travel Solutions to provide additional support for the north’s travel agent network. He joins Robert Wilson, who won ‘Travel Trade Representative of the Year’ at the Northern Ireland Travel and Tourism Awards. Travel Solutions is expanding beyond its Belfast base and is offering ski holidays from Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Stansted to two Bulgarian ski resorts, Pamporovo and Borovets from January.

TUI Britain and Ireland has appointed Richard Sofer as commercial director, from December 1. He joined TUI in September 2016 as managing director of Thomson Cruises, overseeing the launch of Discovery 2 in May 2017 and the recent rebrand to Marella Cruises.

IATA is warning the travel industry to be

on the look out for fraudulent emails. It said criminals have been contacting users of IATA products and services by email or phone under false names seeking payment for products or services and/or claiming payments for outstanding amounts due. Fraudsters use email addresses similar to an IATA email address but using different domain names such as @gmail. com or @iattafinance.org, it said.

CREDIT CARD FRAUD

Travel agents report a rise in credit card fraud in the past month with eight cases.

GDPR training will take place in Cork and Dublin this month.

ITAA has discussed a response to group

direct discounting by suppliers which they say is a cause of frustration

AMADEUS Ventures invested in AVUXI.

TRAVELPORT partnered with

Wanup, who offer a hotel portfolio, based on rating, destination and hotel style

SUMMIT Pat Dawson and Cormac

Meehan of the ITAA attended the fourth Summit of Travel Agencies Associations in Valencia.

SKAL Mary Bennett was presented with the Skål National President’s Award at the Let’s Talk Tourism conference in Tralee.

TOPFLIGHT The first winners of places on the Topflight Ski fam trip were Donna Kenny of Cassidy Travel, Karen Armstrong of One World Travel, Eleanor McGivern of Traveller Secrets and Katherina Murray of Dawson Travel.

TRAVEL COUNSELLORS

keynote speaker at their Manchester conference was actress and travel presenter Joanna Lumley.

Philadelphia, considered for conference in 2018

Up next for ITAA?

S

Spain and USA considered for 2018 conference

pain and USA are in the running for venue of the 2018 ITAA conference.

Among the contendors is Philadelphia which is served by American, and from next year, by Aer Lingus as well. Dubai is also in the running as the agents’ association reacts to the rapid expansion of air routes to the

Gulf.

Spain has hosted the annual conference five times in the past reflecting its status as Ireland;s leading outbound destination with a likely 2m visitors in 2018.

1999 Alvor 2000 Tralee 2001 Galway 2002 Newcastle 2003 Killarney 2004 Citywest 2005 Citywest 2006 Santry 2008 MSC Poesia

2009 Portlaoise 2010 Malaga 2011 Seville 2012 Istanbul 2013 Granada 2014 Quantum of the Seas 2015 Jerez 2016 MS Antoinette 2017 Oporto

CLODAGH AND JILL WIN AT WORLDCHOICE

C

lodagh Connolly of Corrib Travel won travel consultant of the year and Jill Jivile Mikalauskiene of Navan Travel best newcomer at the Worldchoice awards for 2017.

Shannon Airport were headline Sponsor of the Worldchoice 2017 conference at the Radisson Blu hotel in Galway.

Carol Anne O’Neill of Worldchoice said 80pc of members are located

outside the Dublin area and 50pc of members are within the Shannon catchment area. Declan Power said the opening of the M18 motorway means Shannon is now closer to the entire west .

Clodagh Connolly

TRAVEL CENTRES AGENT AWARDS

M

ark Clifford’s O’Hanrahan Travel and O’Callaghan’s travel in Dundalk won agent of the year awards at the Travel Centres conference.

Sunway won the supplier of the year award.

Travel Centres hosted 159 for conference and 153 for the gala dinner in Mullingar Park Hotel.

Other agency awards went to Jeff Collins’ Best4travel, Jackie Spain’s PK Travel, Mary Lee’s New-

bridge Travel and Clare Dunne’s Travel Broker.

Best Agent Long Haul Large Best4Travel; Nominated: O’Hanrahan Travel, Lee Travel, Marble City Travel; Small: PK Travel; Nominated: Liberty Travel, Bowe Travel, Travel Advisors; Best Agent Cruise Large Newbridge Travel/Travel Broker (Joint); Nominated: O’Hanrahan Travel, Lee Travel, Best4Travel; Small Magic Vacations; Nominated: Bowe Travel, Fly-

away Travel, Freedom Travel; Best Agent Dynamic Packaging; Large O’Hanrahan Travel; Nominated: Lee Travel, Marble City Trave,l Blackpool Travel; Small KT Travel; Nominated: O’Callaghan Travel, Douglas Travel, Virginia Travel; Agent of the Year Large O’Hanrahan Travel; Nominated: Best4Travel, Lee Travel, Marble City Travel; Small O’Callaghan Travel; Nominated: Lib-

erty Travel, KT Travel, Platinum Travel; Best Agent Use Of Social Media; Travel Broker; Nominated: Magic Vacations, O’Callaghan Travel, Best4Travel; Best Agent Website; Magic Vacations; Nominated: O’Hanrahan Travel, Brady Travel, Newbridge Travel; Supplier of the Year: Sunway; Nominated: Do Something Different, Blue Insurance, Bookabed;

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 35

WINDOW SEAT SEASCAPES FROM DUBLIN BAY

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ather and daughter team Sean and Niamh Kennedy capture the beauty of Dublin bay in 250 photographs, the iconic (and, we fear, doomed) Poolbeg chimneys shining in classic mirror sunrise reflection on the front cover.

The book opens with the steps at forty foot, looking for all the world like a relic form the Roman empire (which it was when women could not bathe there), a panorama from Howth head looking towards Wicklow, and the rocks of Dalkey looking like the coast of Australia.

This sets the tone for what is to follow, all at the end of a Dublin bus ride, Howth, Malahide, Sut-

Dublin: A City by the Sea

by Sean and Niamh Kennedy is published by O’Brien Press

ton/Clontarf, the City, the Kennedy’s own neighbourhood at Sandymount, Booterstown, Dun Laoghaire, Dalkey, Killiney, Bray and Greystones.

Along the way we meet a haunting long exposure of north bank tower lighthouse, the Dragon rowing crew meeting a swan in Grand Canal Harbour, a dog on Sandymount beach at low tide.

The caption for Mulligan’s pub lists Con Houlihan among the ce-

lebrities it hosted: Judy Garland, Seamus Heaney, James Joyce, and John F Kennedy.

There are surprises along the way Lord Meath’s lodge on the Bray to Greystones walk was used as a toll gate when the walk first opened.

You have to get up early to capture these chimneys at sunrise, as in the cover and even more haunting photograph on page 62. The Kennedys have woken us all up to

Last month in numbers

u1.4bn Ryanair guidance for their annual profit in 2017-8,

119m Ryanair’s new estimate for passenger traffic for their financial year, down from 121m.

u50m Cost of the refurb by Adare Manor before their reopening last month 11.8m Ryanair passengers in October. u4.5m Shortfall in the travellers’ protection fund according to the Aviation Commissioner.

16,500 Number of seats on five Dublin

rotations from Celebrity cruises again in 2018

96 Ryanair load factor in October.

12 Number of A321s Aer Lingus are considering

taking from the IAG order book, says Willie Walsh.

Busman’s holiday: Dominic Burke

Every month we ask a leading travel professional to write about their personal holiday experience. This month: Dominic Burke of Travel Centres

W

hen people find out that I work in the travel industry, the question that they invariably ask is ‘where is the nicest place you’ve ever been?’

Up to quite recently, my stock response had always been ‘the last place I visited!’

It was an answer partly designed to contain the conversational thread that might kick off if I mentioned any specific place, but it was also true!

I would describe myself as a kind of person who sees merit in practically everyplace I’ve ever been and every moment I’ve ever experienced on foreign shores, no matter how familiar or challenging those shores have been.

Although my wife and kids would claim otherwise, I feel that I’m easily pleased, even to the extent that I enjoy most airline food; an admission that one perhaps shouldn’t reveal in polite company for fear of ridicule.

In over 40 years of regular travel to the four corners and six of the seven continents of the world (Antarctica

A

has eluded me so far but it’s on the list!) There has only ever been one place that I’ve ever said to myself ‘I don’t think I’ll ever bother coming back here again’ but being the gentleman that I am, I will never reveal its location and I’m not about to start playing the banjo anytime soon either!

I can, however, reveal the location of a place I visited briefly last year, and which has caused me to question my natural travelers’ agnosticism and that place is Moorea — an island that would give even Paradise an inferiority complex.

Located just 35 minutes sailing time from its larger neighbour of Tahiti in French Polynesia, Moorea is about as remote as it gets on the face of this beautiful planet of ours.

I was belatedly acknowledging a significant birthday that had not been celebrated the previous year and decided to treat myself and my significant other to a cruise from Sydney to Hawaii which took in some of the islands of both Fiji and French Polynesia including the idyllic and almost mythical Bora Bora.

Bora Bora could be described as the poster child for exotic coral islands and is a beautiful place, beloved by many of Hollywood’s royalty because of its relative remoteness, exclusivity and eye-watering prices.

Having visited both islands, I can say with little fear of contradiction that Bora Bora is Moorea’s poorer second cousin.

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

irlines are good at thinking up clever tricks to take money from passengers.

They charge extra for bags, for food and for selecting where you sit. Now they are contemplating another strategy: packing more seats onto each plane.

It started, as these things do, in the US: American Airlines announced that it will insert 12 more seats, or two rows, into its economy class on its Boeing 737-800

fleet and an extra nine seats into its A321s. JetBlue said it will cram 12 additional seats into its A320s.

There are ways to get more passengers onto planes without sacrificing comfort or enraging the public. Manufacturers claim that new designs can make a 27-inch pitch feel as comfortable as a 29inch one. Ryanair is getting more seats into the max without reducing legroom.

Aircraft interiors industry,

which includes seat manufacturers, is worth $17bn today and is forecast to grow to $29bn by 2021. An Irish company, Thompson Aero in Portadown is in the heart of that battlefield.

When American said that it would reduce the distance between rows from 30 to 29 inches on some of its new aircraft there was an outcry. But 29 could indeed be the new 30. And airlines eats are not moving forward anytime soon.

Moorea It should be a must for anyone wishing to experience what Jurassic Park looks and feels like but without the slight inconvenience of having to deal with velociraptors!

It has scuba diving to die for and soil that is so fecund that if you planted a broom handle into the ground, it would have sprouted branches by the following day. Giant, impossibly sweet grapefruits grow with gay abandon by the side of the road whilst elevated views from any part of the island simply take your breath away!

Don’t get me wrong; I love the places that everyone else does and for the very same reasons, but Moorea is a place apart and I now dread whenever I still get asked that stock question. I really don’t want to have to tell them the truth as they’ll never be able to shut me up.

IN YOUR NEXT TRAVEL EXTRA: Available to Travel Agents or online January 15 2018

HOLIDAY WORLD ISSUE Esciting new destinations HONG KONG PAPHOS PATTAYA

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 36

IRELAND'S PREMIER SOURCE OF TRAVEL INFORMATION

TRAVEL WRITER AWARDS 2018

2002 winner Cleo Murphy with and Gerry O”Hare of Travel Extra

2003 & 2004 winner Pól Ó Conghaile with Gerry O’Hare, Seamus Brennan and Michael Doorley

2005 winner Kathryn Thomas with Gerry O’Hare and James Malone

T

Get your entry in for writer awards

he Travel Extra Travel Writer of the year awards are now open for entries.

There are eleven categories and entries are invited to: Travel Extra Travel Writer awards, Limelight Communications, 60 Grand Canal Street Upper, Dublin 4.

Articles should be printed out in hard copy with contact details for the entrant.

The awards will be presented at a function in Thomas Prior House on Friday January 26 2017, during the Holiday World Show at RDS Simmonscourt.

Home market - Category sponsor: Fáilte Ireland.

Long haul - Category sponsor: TBC. Northern Ireland - Category sponsor: TourismNI Digital media - Category sponsor: TBC. Short break - Category sponsor:

2016 award winner Yvonne Gordon with Sharon Jordan of TTC Previous winners of the overall Cassidy Travel.

Skiing - Category sponsor: Top- award were: 2002 Cleo Murphy, 2003-4 Pól Ó Conghaile, 2005 flight.

Sun holiday - Category sponsor: Kathryn Thomas, 2006 Muriel Bolger, 2007 Philip Nolan, 2008 Pól Ó TBC Broadcast Production - Cat- Conghaile, 2009 Mark Evans 2010 Philip Nolan 2011 Isabel Conway egory sponsor:TBC. Spain – Category sponsor: 2013 Sue Morrell. 2013-4 Pól Ó Conghaile, 2015 Isabel Conway Spanish Tourist Board.

Overall - Category sponsor: The 2016 Travel Corporation.

2006 winner Muriel Bolger with Stephen Rea who presented the awards

2007 winner Philip Nolan with Gerry O’Hare, James Malone and Alex Incorvaja

2010 winner Philip Nolan with Lorraine Keane, Maureen Ledwith and Eoghan Corry

2008 winner Pol O Conghaile with Gerry O’Hare

2011 winner Isabel Conway with Alex Incorvaja and Gerry O’Hare

2009 winner Mark Evans with Eoghan Corry and Gerry O’Hare

2012 winner Sue Morrell with Eoghan Corry, Gonzalo Ceballos and Alex Incorvaja

2013 winner Pól Ó Conghaile with Heidi Drummond of the Maltese Tourist Board

2014 winner Pól Ó Conghaile with Victor Bonett of the Maltese Tourist Board

2015 winner Isabel Conway with Sharon Jordan of TTC

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 38

MEETING PLACE

Out and about with the Travel Trade

y of Enda Corneille and Anita Thomas of Emirates at Paul Hackett of Clickandgo, Angela Portugal, Maree Rigne Walsh of CorCelina Tavares of Visit nne and Jean Maxwell the Northern Ireland Travel Awards in Newcastle porate Travel Management and Co rmac Meehan Du of Me eh an Tra Limelight PR, Lorraine vel Bundoran at ITAA Co Down ference conference of the ITAA at ITAA con

Mary Lee Johnston of Lee Travel and Clare Dunne of The Travel Broker at ITAA conference in Oporto

radores and Teresa Juanjo Gonzalez of Pa Tourist Board at the Map ish an Sp Gancedo of the nt Travel Paradores eve

Centres and Paul Spen Patrick McKinney of Qatar Airways and Michelle Dominic Burke of Travel d by the Reilly of Dublin Airport at the Northern Ireland ste ho ce en fer con A cer of Aviareps at ITA in Oporto Travel Awards Portuguese tourist board

Michaela Banks of Ro yal bin of Getabed and Le Caribbean, John McKibila days at the Northern Ire McCabe of Falcon Holiland Travel Awards

Maureen Meehan of Me and Dave Hennessy of ehan Travel Bundoran Tropical Sky at ITAA con ference -

Rose and Mary Kane of at the 2017 ITAA confer Kane’s Travel Longford ence hosted by the Portuguese Tourist Bo ard in Oporto

d rde/Joe Walsh Tours an Barry Walsh of Conco A ITA at vel Tra m ha en Pauline Grenham of Gr conference

Mary Jones of Lee Tra vel and Jim Tobin of FC at ITAA conference ho M ste tourist board in Oporto d by the Portuguese

Lorraine Crowley of Shandon Travel and Hugh Commissioner and An Cathy Mannion Aviation Travel Management at Bruton of Brittany Ferries at ITAA conference e rat la Walsh of Corpo hosted by the Portuguese tourist board in Oporto ge conference ITAA

Ciaran Mulligan of Blue Insurances and Sarah Slattery of The Travel Expert at the Northern Ireland Travel Awards

Cathy Keller of Keller Travel and Sandra Walsh of Joe Walsh Pilgrimtours at ITAA conference hosted by the Portuguese tourist board in Oporto

Yvonne O’Donohue of O’Donohue Travel Go rey and Richard Cullen of Killiney Travel at ITAA conference

tar Airways and Carol Patrick McKinney of Qa ice Ireland ath the cho rld Wo Anne O’Neill of Awards Northern Ireland Travel

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 39

Out and about with the Travel Trade

and Michaela Banks of Jason Kearns of Hertz conference hosted by A Royal Caribbean at ITA ard in Oporto Bo st uri To ese gu rtu Po the

Mary Lee of Newbridge sey of Newbridge TravelTravel and Lynn Dempat ITAA conference in Oporto

onvel and Rosemary O’C Sean Healy of Lee Tra A conference 2017 in nell of Lee Travel at ITA Oporto

Greg Evans and Keith Chuter at the Northern Ireland Travel Awards in the Slieve Donard Ho Newcastle Co Down tel

MEETING PLACE

Barbara Garcia ofr Paradores and Teresa Gancedo of the Spanish TB Dublin at the Map Travel Paradores event

Celina Tavares of Visit Portugal Ireland, Anton Padeira of VisitPortug al London and Raquel io Carneiro at ITAA conferen ce

Beatrice Cosgrove of Etihad and Mukesh Sharma at the Northern Ireland Travel Awards in Newcastle Co Down

Martin Penrose and Neal Sealy of IIfonly at the Northern Ireland Travel Awards in Newcastle Co Down

Cara Barry, Maria Murphy and Deirdre Fitzgerald of Corporate Travel Management at ITAA conference

of Adams & Butler and Siobhan Byrne Learat A Shandon Travel at ITA Susanna McMahon of conference

Jason Whelan of Blue Ins Turkish Airlines and Ita urances, Onur Gul of Hendrick of Travel Wo at the Northern Ireland rld Travel Awards

Solutions and Maureen Peter McMinn of Travel itions at the Northern hib Ledwith.of Business Ex Ireland Travel Awards

Angela Walsh an vel a Pearse Keller of Keller Travel, John McKibbin of ate Travel Ma d Deirdre Fitzgerald of CorporTra ock Kn of e nzi Ke nagement during the at Maurice and Doreen Mc vel Awards at the Slieve Getabed and Sandra Walsh of Joe Walsh ITAA conference in Oporto Pilgrimtours at ITAA conference the Northern Ireland Tra le Co Down ast wc Donard hotel in Ne

Catherine and Michael Bo Travel at ITAA conferen we of Michael Bowe ce hosted by the Portu guese tourist board in Oporto

Brian O’Mara of O’Leary Insurances and Matthew Dakin of A2B Transfers at ITAA conference hosted by the Portuguese tourist board in Oporto

ogan Travel and Marie ce Frances Grogan of Gr Travel at ITAA conferen Grenham of Grenham

JANUARY 2018 PAGE 37

MEETING PLACE

Out and about with the Travel Trade

d Patricia Kenny and Marian Benton, co-founders Anne Dolan Legal advisor to the ITA Karen Maloney of Etiha A, Jan Lyons of Riviera Travel and Ta Shannon O’Dowd and at ra Hynes of Travelport on of Club Travel the of MAP Travel at the Map Travel Paradores eventITAA con Lyd ey dfr Go at th wii ys ference Airwa nt Etihad Abu Dhabi eve

Joanne Leegan of Ce ntr McGeown of Centre Tra e Travel and Olivia hosted by the Portugu vel at ITAA conference ese tourist board in Op orto

Valerie Metcalfe of FCM, Kathryn MacDonnell of and Martina Coogan Spanish Tourist Board and Yvonne O’Donohue of Enda Corneille of Emirates ern Ireland Travel rth No the at s O’Donohue Travel Gorey at ITAA conference of United Airline Co Down Awards in Newcastle,

ller Jean Maxwell of the ITA h Ferries and Cathy Ke A and Marie McCarthy of Iris conference hosted by the Tom Randles of Travelnet and Paul Dawson of A Dawson Travel at ITAA conference hosted by the John Galligan Travel at ITA John Galligan of ITA at of Keller Travel A con o ort Op by in the Portugese Tourist Board in Oporto Portuguese tourist board ference hosted Portuguese tourist board in Oporto

Kathleen Carr and Rit a Co Travel at ITAA conferen sgrove of Cill Dara ce hosted by the Portu guese tourist board in Oporto

Ian Baillie, Paul Grant and Orla Noonan of Stena Line at the Northern Ireland Travel Awards in Newcastle Co Down

nton agent.ie and Marian Be Paul Sexton of Travel A conference hosted by of Map Travel at the ITA ard in Oporto bo the Portuguese tourist

Margarita Gruber of Irlande En Espanol, Barbara Noele en Lyn ndgo, Brian Nolan and Paul Hackett of Clicka r Hannon Travel at ITAA Garcia of Paradores and Karen Horan Irlande En Lynch at ITA ch of Atlas Travel/Gohop and Gerard ea A conference hosted by Eim of Espanol at the Map Travel Paradores event Eileen Doherty the Portuguese tourist board in Oporto ce en fer con

Maureen Delmar of MD Carroll of AIB Merchan Travel and Andrew Mct Service at ITAA confer ence -

d Paul Siobhan Byrne Learat of Adams & Butler an Kath- Jane Dawkinstof Abu Dhabi Tourism an Minor of or ect Dir ting rke ryn MacDonnell of The Spanish Tourist Board Counihan, Sales & Ma Dhabi event u hosted by the Portuguese tourist board in Oporto Hotels at the Etihad Ab

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