Travel Extra January 2020

AER LINGUS FOCUS ON SHORT HAUL RYANAIR GETTING B737 MAX SMART GUIDED TOURS WHAT’S NEW Where the wild things are

New cruise ships hit the water

Sellling weddings

R U O Y DE A R R T PE PA

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DECMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020

Taking to the road Guided tours 2020

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HOSPITALITY MORE THAN JUST A WORD True hospitality comes from the hea .

From a genuine desire to make sure our guests always feel totally at home.

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NEWS

Bridge check-up

D

Denmark and Sweden end no-passport agreement

anish police on Tuesday began performing border checks at the country’s crossings with Sweden.

The checks were conducted on trains and vehicles crossing the Oresund Bridge over the narrow waterway that separates Copenhagen, Denmark’s largest city, and Malmo, Sweden’s third-largest city. Checks were also carried out at ferry ports.

For years, Danes and Swedes have been able to cross without needing a passport. Now a passport is needed for Swedes entering Denmark for the next six months.

That requirement and the checkpoints come after violence that includes 13 explosions in Copenhagen since February, as well as a shooting

SPAIN’s Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto

.

DUTY FREE The Minister for Finance has announced that duty-free shopping for people travelling from Ireland to UK ports and airports would return in the event of a nodeal Brexit. Paschal Donohoe was responding to a statement from the British government that it intends to reintroduce duty-free shopping for passengers travelling to EU countries if the UK leaves the EU without a deal on 31 October.

SPAIN Irish visits to Spain are up 7.5pc

Øresund Bridge from the air

DESTINATIONS TO WATCH

ALGHERO 2w from Dublin KATOWICE 3w from Cork PALANGA with Aer Lingus from May 24 next.

BARCELONA

4w from Shannon, Aer Lingus from May 2

BILLUND 2w from Dublin with Ryanair from October BRINDISI

with Ryanair from October

KIEV Dublin 2w seasonal with Ryanair since summer.

LISBON TAP launched Dublin double daily, opening S America.

2w from Dublin with Aer Lingus from May 23 next.

MARSEILLES 5w from Dublin with Ryanair next summer

Westjet.

Lingus 2019 destination.

CALGARY Dublin from DALLAS

American will link Dublin daily to Texas next year.

DUBROVNIK from Cork.

Aer Lingus

MINNEAPOLIS Aer MONTREAL:

Aer Lingus destination postponed from 2019.

MOSCOW: Pobedoa are listing a Sheremetyevo service.

HALIFAX Westjet move their NICE: Aer Lingus from Cork St John’s service since April.

says the scheme will include a €200m credit line for businesses affected by the Thomas Cook failure, stimulus for job creation and a discount in airfare> Thee Canary Islands are expected to lose 400,000 tourists this winter while the Balearic Islands,will see 300,000 fewer visitors. The government says 3,400 jobs depending directly on contracts with Thomas Cook are at risk. They say 100 Thomas Cook owned hotels and 400 other hotels will close.

resumed May 1.

WHEN HAPPY EVER AFTER BEGINS...

From the stilted water villas in the Maldives to the picture-perfect beaches in Greece, we have amazing destinations to create the perfect honeymoon for any couple.

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

3w from Dublin with Ryanair next summer

PARIS 4w from Shannon, Aer Lingus from March.

PODGORICA

2w from Dublin with Ryanair next summer

SPLIT: Ryanair June 1 from

Dublin.

TALLINN Dublin 1w from Air Baltic started March 31.

TEL AVIV: Dublin 3w from El Al from next April.

TOULOUSE Daily from Dublin with Ryanair from October VERONA 3w from Dublin with Ryanair next summer

on 2018 in the eight months to August, to 1,547,767. Visits in July were up 6.7pc to 269.599. This is helping making up for the decline in English visitors of 3.1pc in anticipation of Brexit. Spain is Ireland’s most popular outbound destination and will pass 2.1m visits in 2019. Ireland is Spain’s fourth fastest growing market, after USA, Russia and Portugal.

ORLANDO Walt Disney World parkgoers were stuck for hours aboard the Florida resort’s newly launched aerial cable car system, prompting firefighters to lift people from the gondolas to bring them back to the ground.

CANADIAN legislation will require any mandatory fees, aside from taxes, to be shown in the price of a hotel room that is advertised to consumers.

Saudi Arabia is opening its doors to international visitors , showcasing its five UNESCO World Heritage Sites, vibrant local culture and Red Sea resorts. Tourists from 49 countries including Ireland can now obtain a one-year, multiple entry visa allowing them to spend up to 90 days in the country.

UBER is giving users in New York the option to skip the traffic jam and hail a helicopter to the airport.

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 4

THE KNOWLEDGE Travel Extra Clownings, Straffan, Co Kildare (+3531) 2913707 Fax (+3531) 2957417 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 Catherine Murphy cathmurph@yahoo.com Aileen O’Reilly aileencoreilly@gmail.com

Travel Extra takes no responsibility for errors and omissions.

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

Printer: WG Baird Limited Caulside Drive Greystone Rd Antrim BT41 2RS

Contact +353872551675 if you have difficulty getting Travel Extra.

CONTENTS

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

A

www.travelextra.ie

12 Extremadura: Ancient and edible 14 Qantas: 17 hours to Perth 16 Baltimore: Beating art 20 Gouded tours: Hitting the road 26 Afloat: Grandiosa adventure

28 Flying: MAX pressures 33 TIGS: Travel Extra golf day 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.

getting there is half the battle

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.

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JANUARY 2020 PAGE 6

HOTELS

www.travelextra.ie

CORK

is to get a 183-room Premier Inn on Morrisons Quay in Cork to open in 2023.

Whitbread is planning further Premier Inns in Galway, Limerick and Killarney.

PORTMARNOCK Hotel & Golf Links has been purchased by Vancouver based Northland Properties Group for €50m.

HERITAGE hotel of Killenard, Co. re-launched following the completion of a €3m refurbishment and rebrand. FBD Hotels & Resorts acquired The Heritage almost a year ago and subsequently commenced a major refurbishment of the property’s ground floor and created a new brand identity.

GLIN Castle of Co. Limerick and The Wilder Townhouse of Dublin 2 have both been added to Ireland’s Blue Book for 2020.

CORK A hotel opportunity at 71 South

Mall in Cork city has been proposed by estate agency JLL with a guide price of €4.5 million.

Exterior of the Mayson Hotel

DUNLOE Pre-tax losses declined by

Mayson Hotel adds 94-rooms in Dublin silicon docks

TALBOT Figures filed by Torski indicate pre-tax profits decreased 1.7pc to €6.24m at Talbot Hotels and Pettitt’s supermarkets.

19pc to €6m at Killarney Hotels Ltd last year in the wake of the post-refurbishment reopening of The Dunloe Hotel.

CLERY’S Dublin City Council approved an extension in the size of the proposed hotel on the site of the former Clerys warehouse located on Earl Place in Dublin, at the back of the former Clerys department store building on O’Connell Street, by two floors to nine storeys and from 176 to 213 rooms.

TMR Hotel Collection has acquired the 186-bedroom Tallaght Cross Hotel and is planning a multi-million euro refurbishment.

SALTHOUSE Hotel of Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, opened a £400,000 spa facility.

RENVYLE Anne Marie Kelly is to

become the new general manager of Connemara’s Renvyle House Hotel following the retirement of CEO Ronnie Counihan in January.

MERCHANT’S ARCH Dublin City Council granted permission for a 12-room boutique hotel at the corner of Merchant’s Arch and Temple Bar Square in Dublin.

ARDBOYNE The three-star 29 bedroom Ardboyne Hotel in Navan,is being sold by leisure property specialists Lisney Morrisseys for €3.5m.

PREFERRED Hotels & Resorts, the world’s largest independent hotel brand with over 750 hotels in 85 countries, is thrilled to welcome 16 new member hotels to its

AIRBNB says guests projected to spend an estimated €212m in Irish restaurants and cafes in 2019

SLIEVE Russell in Ballyconnell, Co. Cavan teaming up with County Sligo Golf Club, Donegal Golf Club and Strandhill Golf Club to launch the new ‘PGA National Ireland West Coast Links Tour’.

T

Dockland hotel

he 94-room Mayson is opening December in the centre of the Dublin Docklands.

The hotel is home to and suites, Power Gym, Bottle Boy Pub, The Green Dolphin Barber, The Mayson Bar, Dime Coffee, Ryleigh’s Rooftop Restaurant and The Timberyard event space.

The Mayson says it has been created for business travellers, explorers and city dwellers.

The Mayson consists of two protected structures that have been sewn

together beautifully.

Each building has its own distinctive style. No.81, the original pub building designed as a townhouse and public house in 1860, now houses the Bottle Boy Pub, The Green Dolphin Barber and seven townhouse style suites and bedrooms above.

The second building began life as a cattle and timber warehouse in 1870.

The original brickwork façade was retained and temporarily held up by supporting it from the outside with shipping containers, filled with con-

crete blocks.

A nine-story steel framed building inserted within the original red brick walls, creating a blend of old and new.

Dave O’Shea from ODOS said; “this restoration project is a redevelopment of No.81 and No.82 North Wall Quay. Both buildings were in a dilapidated condition and had not been used in over two decades. The concept was to redevelop these strikingly unique buildings by drawing on their inherent characters.

BWH LAUNCHES IRISH PROJECT IN BUNRATTY

B

WH Hotel Group has launched in Ireland and has said that it is targeting Irish hotel owners, developers and investors in all market segments with a new-look brand portfolio.

BWH aims to have 10 hotels in Ireland within five years and is target-

ing both existing properties and new builds with at least 75 rooms .

Bunratty Castle Hotel of Bunratty, Co Clare, will be the first BW Signature Collection hotel in Ireland. The 144room hotel, owned by The Blarney Woollen Mills Group will operate under its own name

but with the additional opportunities of being part of the BWH Hotel Group portfolio.

Formerly Best Western Hotels & Resorts, the group recently rebranded to BWH Hotel Group and acquired global brand WorldHotels, and its 300 hotels around the world.

BWH Hotel Group’s Suzi Yoder and GM of Bunratty Castle Hotel, Danny Corbett

MARKER RELAUNCHED BY MINOR

D

ublin’s Marker Hotel is set to be relaunched under the Anantara brand following an agreement with new owners Deka Immobilien.

Anantara Hotels was

established in Thailand in 2001, and is operated in Europe by the NH Hotel Group with brand oversight by Bangkok-based hotel group Minor Hotels.

The Marker was ac-

quired by Deka from Midwest Holding and an investor group led by Capital Partners for €130m.

This makes it the most expensive hotel sale in Ireland in 2019, ahead of

the €55m paid for Druids Glen, the €50m for Portmarnock and anticipated €55m for the K Club. The new name for the hotel has not been revealed.

CORK

1st April 2020 The Imperial Hotel

DUBLIN

76 South Mall, T12 A2YT

EXHIBITOR PROFILE • Health Resorts & Spas

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• International Hotels/Resorts

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Hotel Riu Plaza The Gresham 23 O’Connell Street Upper, D01 C3W7

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2nd April 2020

• Technology and Communications Companies • Theme & Leisure Parks

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

• Ticketing Agents

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• Trade Associations

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BOOK YOUR STAND NOW!

ORGANISERS

CONTACTS

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 Angela O’Rourke - Business Development Manager t: +353 (0)1 291 3705 • e: angela@bizex.ie

www.irishtraveltradeshow.com 126311 TRADE SHOW SEPTEMBER 2019_V2.indd 1

02/08/2019 13:10

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 8

POSTCARDS FROM THE TRAVEL SCENE

P

aul Nolan and Nick Newman of China Southern airlines hosted key travel trade at an event in bang restaurant. Nick had spent the last year working in the head office in Guangzhou. China Southern is receiving 80 aircraft each year. The airline has 840 aircraft and an enormous domestic Chinese network. While Dublin is not on its radar for a direct route it finds that Irish traffic is

N

YC & Company, Royal Caribbean and United Airlines Trade hosted a group of key Irish travel agents to trip to New York.

They travelled on the United Dreamliner and stayed at Arthouse Hotel and Hilton Garden Inn Staten Island, partook in a Grayling City Sightseeing Upper West Side Bus Tour and lunch at Tavern on The Green, fa tour of Lincoln Center. On Staten Island they visited

Q

atar airways hosted key corporate customers and trade at the Dublin chamber event addressed by Alan Joyce.

For summer Qatar increased its frequency on the Dublin to Doha route in the Summer from seven flights per week to 11 flights weekly offering better connectivity to Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Indian Sub-Continent destinations, Singapore, three destinations in Viet-

coming through Paris and Amsterdam in large numbers. The airline has moved into the new Beijing airport with the recently opened biggest single terminal building in the world and is looking forward to further expansion.  Picture shows Nick Newman and Dean Saxby of China Southern with Paul Nolan and Alan Daniels of APG at the event.

Snug Harbour,Flagship Brewery,National Lighthouse Museum, lunched at Daddy O’s, visited the new Empire Outlets and dined at Denino’s Pizzeria.

The last day was spent on Royal Caribbean Anthem of The Seas and lunched at Jamie’s.

Picture shows Ashley Watt of WTC, S Stephen Mullan of Downe Travel, Dee Ritchie of Cassidy Travel, Alison McWilliams of American Holidays,

nam, Thailand, Maldives, Seychelles Picture shows Elaine Thompson of Qatar Airways, Bernadette Carew of ICI, Jason Kearns of Qatar Airways and Yolanda Fitzpatrick of WTC Qatar offers free stopovers in Doha for transit passengers on its flights ex Dublin and has visa free access for citizens of 80 countries, making it the eighth most open destination in the world..

D

ominic Burke of Travel Centres hosted his largest ever conference at the Killashee house hotel in Naas Co Kildare, beating the record set at the same venue in 2013.

The Saturday workshops and Hollywood themed gala dinner brought the total attendance to over 220. Three agencies won agent of the year awards, Lee Travel, O’Hanrahan Travel, and Douglas travel. Sunway

G

old Travel Counsellors, those that have achieved the highest sales, celebrated their achievements at a five-star resort in Mauritius last month.

Ireland has ten gold counsellors, Mary Foyle, Sarah McCarthy, Mandy Walsh, Lorraine Lawless, Rosemary Chawke, Emer McDermott, Jamie Thomas, Roger Barrett, Robert Kiernan and Jennifer O’Brien.

R

ebecca Kelly hosted a group of key Irish agents aboard Sky Princess in advance of its inaugural sailings.

Guests on the cruise ship included Deidre Sweeny and Dawn Westmoreland of Sunway, Jeff Collins of Best4Travel, Alan Lynch/Celine of CruiseEscapes, Sharon Harney and Julie Hanna of Cassidy Travel, Caroline O’Toole of Fahy Travel, Dominic

and Blue Insurances shared this supplier of the year award and Jeannette Taylor won sales executive.

O’Callaghan Travel, travel Advisors, Marble City travel and KT Travel won long haul, dynamic packaging and cruise sales awards.

The conference owners and managers session maintained its traditional lively exchange with suppliers. Attendance on Friday was 109.

With 82 Travel Counsellors now running their own businesses in Ireland, 11% have the prestigious ‘Gold’ status.

This is the second highest percentage globally.

Picture shows Mandy Walsh, Mary Foyle, Rosemary Chawke, General Manager at Travel Counsellors Ireland Cathy Burke, Lorraine Lawless, and Emer McDermott at the global conference in Mauritius

Burke of Travel centres and Sandra Corkin and Julie Ann Vaughan of Oasis Travel. It is the latest stage of Rebecca’s programme to engage agents with the Princess product and raise its profile with the Irish travel trade.

Picture shows Julie Hanna of Cassidy Travel, Rebecca Kelly of Princess.

Astrid Bell of American Holidays and Bladhana Richardson of American Holidays

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 9

POSTCARDS FROM THE TRAVEL SCENE

I

reland’s Association of visitor and entertainment attractions conference was held in Thomond Park.

Visitor numbers throughout the sector showed a 10pc decline in 2019, reflecting a softening of the British and central European markets and the loss of key North American routes for the tractions in the west.

Discussion turned to maximising revenue and the thorny question of fran-

T

he Pacific Asia Travel Association has ramped up its activities in Ireland and held its second training evening for the Irish travel trade.

Founded in 1953 and long established in France, Sweden, London and Germany, the group is a membership association working to promote the responsible development of travel and tourism in the Asia Pacific region.

K

ey travel agents visited the white villages of Cordoba in the aftermath of the ITAA con-

ference.

The group visited Cabra, Zuheros , Priego, Lucena and Iznajar.

Picture shows the group in Priego tour guide Lucia Gonzalez, Rueben Lopez Director of the Spanish Tourist Board in Dublin, Siobhan Byrne Learat of Adams & Butler, Mervyn Kerr of

chising out catering and merchandising at the big tickets attractions.

The Association is just two years old and has achieved much in its short existence. The chairmanship passed from Paul Carty to Niall O’Callaghan of Shannon Heritage. Picture shows Moderator Eoghan Corry of Travel Extra, Bernard Donoghue CEO of England’s ALVA, Gordon Morrison CEO of Scotland’s ASVA and Paul Carty.

There are 34 chapters including the Britain and Ireland chapter, with airlines, tourist boards and tour operators promoting travel to the region.

Picture shows Andrew Hall of Qantas,Maureen Ledwith of Business Exhibitions and Chris Lee, Tourism Thailand’s Head of Marketing, Ireland and Britain. PATA CEO Mario Hardy was recently awarded ‘Travel Personality of The Year’ at TTG Travel Awards

Dawson Travel (back), Maura Maloney of Dublin Airport, Liz Kerr of Dawson Travel, Kathryn MacDonnell of The Spanish Tourist Board, Mary Lee of Newbridge Travel, Catherine Myler of Newbridge Travel, Paul Dawson of Dawson Travel (back), Sonya Cribben of Dawson Travel, Hugh Bruton of Brittany Ferries., Marta Gomez of Priego de Cordoba, Front: Eoghan Corry editor of Travel Extra.

T

he United and travel centres farm trip to Washington DC and Maryland was a late contender for fam trip of the year.

The journey included visits to Annapolis and Baltimore as well as the sides of the US capital.

There were harbour cruises in Baltimore and Washington and a tour of the Naval Academy in Annapolis.

The group shopped at Arundel mills

S

ustainability and its implications for tourism where the core teams at the let’s talk tourism conference in Killarney.

Speakers included Ireland’s leading climate scientist John Sweeney, Niall Gibbons the CEO of Tourism Ireland and John McGrillen, the CEO of TourismNI. Minister Brendan Griffin was asked about the 9pc VAT rate and he said it

T

he mountains of Austria and Germany proved a welcome haven for some key hard-working travel writers and tour operators.

Next year will see the revival of the Oberammergau passion play, which takes place every 10 years. The town has filled with locals who do not shave off their beards in the run-up to the performance. securing bed nights and eating spots is the first part of the passion,

shopping centre courtesy of Simon Malls.

Pictures Nicola Churchill of Best4travel, Gillian Purser of Marble City Travel, Jacinta Manto of Harvey Travel, Michael Bowe of Michael Bowe Travel, Darren Yeates of MIdland Travel, Martina Coogan of United Airlines, Andrew Lynch of Travel Advisors, Carolyn Davis of Liberty Travel and Travel Centres and Sean Healy of Lee Travel.

could be revived if the industry showed serious stress in the aftermath of Brexit.

Travel writer Simon Calder explained how Brexit could mean Ireland would become the gateway to Europe.

He said that Ireland would benefit from Brexit in the long term as Britain faded from the map of tourism destinations and people sought a welcoming, English-speaking gateway to the continent.

as experienced by those tourists who wish to join the audience of 2,00 at one of the 103 performances.

The group flew with Ryanair to Munich, which is a convenient base for Bavaria and northern Austria.

Picture shows Eamonn Blaney, Lisa Krenkel of Seefeld Tourism, Caroline Allen, Anne O’Donoghue, Mary Carr and Eoghan Corry at the Seefeld Joch, Seefeld, Austria,

★★★★★

� d l � � w a r e v � c s i D

Date for your diary: YOUR TRADE DAY • Friday 24th January, 2020

★★★★★ Abbey Travel Adventures Access Africa Safari Actons Hotel Kinsale Advantage Austria Air Canada airBaltic Corporation Airfield Estate Alabama Tourism Alentejo Promotion Office Algarve Tourism Bureau American Holidays American Sky AMResorts Andalucia Tourist Board Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council Arkansas Asociación de Hoteles de Turismo de La República Argentina Atithi Voyages India Atlantic City & Pennsylvania Backstage Theatre Longford Bahamas Tourist Office Ballyrobert Gardens Barbados Tourism Marketing INC Beds Of Silk Bellbridge House Hotel Benidorm Tourism Board BOM Sucesso Design Resort, Leisure & Golf Bradley International Airport Brian McEniff Hotels C’est Si Bon France Cambrils Tourism Board Camden Fort Meagher Camino Groups CaminoWays.com Campervan Insurance Camping La Route d’Or Camping Le Bosc **** Camping Le Tropicana Camping Turiscampo Camping Village de la Guyonniere ***** Campissimo Campings in France Campsites in Brittany Campsites In Girona Canary Islands Cantabria - Green Spain

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Caravan and Motorhome Club Carlow Tourism Carrickcraft Cascais Tourist Board Castel Camping La Garangeoire Castellon Tourist Board Castlemartyr Resort Castlerosse Park Resort Castletroy Park Hotel/So Hotels Catalonia - Catalan Tourist Board Causeway Coastal Route Celebrity Cruises Celestyal Cruises Celtic Ross Hotel / Farm Tours Charles Camping China National Tourist Office Choice Hotel Group City Break USA Clare Tourism Clonakilty Park Hotel Clonmel Park Hotel Cobh Heritage Centre Compostela Beach Coral Hotel Tenerife Connecticut Office of Tourism Coral Hotel Califorina Tenerife Coral Hotels Tenerife Coral Los Silos Tenerife Coral Villas La Quinta Tenerife Cork City Attractions Corlea Trackway Centre Costa Calida - Region De Murcia Creative Ardagh Croatia - Vodice Tourist Board Cruise USA Cuba Tourist Board Cyprus Golf Cyprus Tourism Organisation Czech Tourism Dawson Travel.ie Deep South USA Destination Niagara USA Dingle Peninsula Tourism Alliance Discover Boyne Valley Discover Galway Discover Long Island Discover New England

Discover Newport Rhode Island Domaine De La Breche Dominican Republic Tourist Office Donegal Tourism Dubrovnik and Neretva Tourist Board Dunadry Hotel Dutchess Tourism e-Travel.ie - Cruise Specialist Edgeworth Heritage & Literary Trail El Delfin Verde Costa Brava Resort El Rompido Embassy of Argentina Embassy of Colombia Embassy of Ethiopia Embassy of Latvia Embassy of Peru Embassy of Slovakia Emirates Holidays ENIT - Italian State Tourist Board EPIC Ireland Escorted Tours USA Ethiopian Airlines Exodus Travel Experience Killarney Explore Georgia Explore St Louis Explore!

Fermanagh Lakelands Tourism Fiona Egan Cloughan Farm & Cookery School Fitzpatrick Hotel Group Flight Centre Florida Keys & Key West Fly Drive USA Follow The Camino Fota House & Gardens Fota Wildlife Park G Adventures Gaeltacht na hEireann Galicia Tourism Board Garryvoe Hotel Shanagarry Garvetur S.A. Go-Pods Micro-Tourer Caravans Great Lakes USA Greek National Tourism Organisation H&Z Corporation LTD (Clickheat) Halkidiki Tourism

Hayes & Jarvis Heritage Island - Ireland’s Premier Attraction Hertz Car Hire Hogan Estates Hotel Beacon NYC Hotel Coral Compostela Beach Golf Tenerife Hotel Coral Los Alisios Tenerife Hotel Coral Ocean View Tenerife Hotel Coral Suites & Spa Tenerife Hotel Coral Teide Mar Tenerife Hotel Estrela de Fatima Hotel Meyrick Hotel Westport Hotel Woodstock Hoteles Servigroup House of Waterford Crystal Hurtigruten Iberostar Hotels & Resorts Ibiza Tourist Board ICELANDAIR Imperial Hotel Cork India Tourist Office Innovart Insight Vacations Intasun Homes Property Consultants Irish Camping and Caravan Club Irish Ferries Irish Golf Review Irish Heritage Trust Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA) Island Marketing (Maldives) Israel Government Tourist Office Istria Tourist Board Jamaica Tourist Board Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) JMG Travel Johnstown House Estate Jordan Tourism Board Kampa Dometic Tents Awnings & Accessories Kansas/Oklahoma Travel & Tourism Kentucky Tourism Killester Travel Kinsale Hotel and Spa Knights and Conquests Heritage Centre Knights Templar Tours L’Abri des Pins

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JANUARY 2020 PAGE 12

DESTINATION SPAIN

Virgin country The olive oil villages of Andalucia

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Travel agents and media visit the Royal Sanctuary of María Santísima de Araceli, the Blessed Virgin of Araceli

Lucia Gonzalez , Rueben Lopez Director of the Spanish Tourist Board in Dublin, Siobhan Byrne Learat of Adams & Butler, Mervyn Kerr of Dawson Travel (back), Maura Maloney of Dublin Airport, Liz Kerr of Dawson Travel, Kathryn MacDonnell of The Spanish Tourist Board, Mary Lee of Newbridge Travel, Catherine Myler of Newbridge Travel, Paul Dawson of Dawson Travel (back), Sonya Cribben of Dawson Travel, Hugh Bruton of Brittany Ferries., Marta Gomez of Priego de Cordoba, Front: Eoghan Corry

ere around, the Andalucians say that olive oil cures all ills.

Here it is not just an additive for cooking, it is integral to survival and the local way of life.

Olives flow over the horizon in every direction.

Making the olive oil sounds very simple, when you listen to Jose Luis Momparler‘s explanation water, oil, bone and skin, separated lovingly and put into a bottle where it spends two years.

He should know.

Rincon de la Subbetica voted best in the world.

The quality of the oil is determined by its fruitiness, bitterness, sweet-

ness (or smoothness), spiciness and “greenness”.

He gave us three small glasses in front of us. We warmed them with our hands before inhaling and then tasting.

The tip of the tongue, Jose Luis says, detects sweetness. The side and middle of the tongue will find bitterness. The back of the tongue and the throat will pick up spiciness.

Humidity and fermentation are the enemy, inducing a vinegary, metallic or rancid flavour.

When we left, we were well educated and, ahem, well oiled.

Images from znajar, Rueben Lopez and Kathryn MacDonnell of The Spanish Tourist Board, in Priego e Cordoba

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he towns of Córdoba built their ancient wealth on olives and fabric and then decided to make time stand still.

Antonio Poyato of Zuheros tourism walked us up and down the narrow streets, between limestone cliffs and the Bailon gorge, about as picture-postcard a pueblo blanco as you can get.

It is a five minutes off the main road between Granada and Córdoba, and judging by the photographs in the Los Palancos restaurant, a haunt of the latter day conquistadores from Real Madrid.

Antonio told us how those with more time to

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 13

DESTINATION SPAIN

View from Royal Sanctuary of María Santísima de Araceli, the Blessed Virgin of Araceli) stay than we had could walk through the Vía Verde de la Subbética along the reclaimed olive train railway line, primeval, grey, white and pink rock stretching into the distance.

You can also visit the visit the cueva de murciélagos (bat cave), and sample the excellent local goat’s cheese.

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any of these towns are an hour’s drive north of Malaga, but they might as well be in a different planet.

The windy road, ubiquitously signposted with “Curvas peligrosas” notices, found another one around every gentle bends, opening up into epic valleys, past sculpted limestone and, look up, there’s the castle.

You could write the script for the tour guide at each white-walled stopped. Established in the 8th century, a 1,200-year-old castle, built by the Moors and captured by the Chris-

tians in the 1400s after what we Irish might call 800 years of oppression, with the help of Castilian cannons which meant that these seemingly impregnable castles and walled towns could no longer just lock doors and dig in for long sieges.

The fight was always hard. We were out of breath just climbing the steps, and the history poignant. Churches were built where the mosques once stood, the minarets becoming bell towers but retaining that exotic, other worldly feel.

From the high castles you can drink the view, the blue-grey peaks of the Sierras Subbéticas in the distance, and a View from the castle in Priego mosaic of shimmering looks across the Embalse silvery-leaved trees car- faded.

Lucia G o n z a l e z de Iznájar, the biggest peted over the hills. showed us through a few reservoir in Andalucía, abra was named of Preigo de Córdoba’s from a rocky mount.

The Barrio del Coso for the goat. Sol magnificent baroque is a timeless labyrinth of Maiz, which we churches.

The church with the narrow alleys, fountains, translated as sunflower waked us through the best view is at Lucena, churches, geraniums, town of Cabra in the the mountain top shrine with castle and panlate evening, finishing in of María Santísima de oramic views.

In summer the freshthe cloisters of a former Araceli, the Blessed Virmonastery as the light gin of Araceli.Iznájar water lake itself has a

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beach where you can swim, rent canoes or sailing boats, and is surrounded by rolling hills carpeted in olive groves, as far as the eye can see.

Lope Ruiz the Mayor of Iznajar brought us to the highest point to look back across the hills, lines of olives on every one, tended lovingly by

people who know what they are doing, and have been doing over the generations, caring and lovingly, each tree surrounded by the distinctive soleras – raked circles around their roots.

They did not have to sail to the new world for gold.

Clockwise: Cabra, Sanctuary of María Santísima de Araceli, church of San Mateo in Lucena, Zuheros, Anselmo Cordoba of the Museo del Anís in Rute

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 14

Just back from:

QANTAS B787 LONDON-PERTH

Just 17 hours to go, yippee Ready for the night: Qantas have the best pyjamas in the sky

The 17 hour flight London to Perth

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passenger should expect the 17 hour flight from London to Perth, nonstop, to be an ordeal.

Not only is it passable, it is comfortable, possibly more comfortable than the sequence Of 14 and ate our flights that have become standard for the Antipodean bound adventure r.

It is all about the humidity and the higher cabin pressure in the Dreamliner, which promises to help beat jet lag.

It makes for a slightly steamier atmosphere en route, but is better when you get there.

The details are worth noting. A cradle foot net support for the calf of the leg. The seat pitch and the configuration. 

The business class seat offers 46-inch (117 cm) pitch, with an 80inch (203 cm) bed when put into lie flat mode.

Seats are in a 1-2-1 layout meaning all business class passengers have direct aisle access, something that’s not available on the airline’s Airbus A380s yet, or the older Boeing 747 jumbos.

Qantas are perennial cellar in the sky award winners. They offer a wine tasting subject to availability of their team of trained sommelier cabin crew, and vary the wines, concentrating on Australian offering: Vickery, Xanadu, St Hallett, when I flew.

The food is excellent, developed with Charles Perkins Centre, with

lighter, healthier offerings, an on-demand menu, ice cream, and Lily O’Briens supply the chocolate.

Businessclass features include a drawer which pops out from beneath the seatback screen for storing small items such as ther phone. Above the screen, there is a small handle for pulling yourself up from your seat.

A cavity to the left of the foot well where you can pop your shoes.

The entertainment comes with a dedicated Australian section, always worth a peek for movies that do not make it into mainstream.

There are 42 business seats, in eight rows and three rows,, and three toilets in business which

can be used by premium economy passengers.

Qantas have always had the best pyjamas in the sky, with a cute kangaroo on the chest.

There is a new international lounge at Perth airport for passengers flying the London route.

There was a yoga session on offer.

For those who want to know, the toilets are still clean and tidy even after 17 hours in the air.

We alighted fresh, perhaps not as a daisy, but an outback flower in summer.

Those we met at Heathrow transferring back to the Irish transfers were happy, having travelled with children in economy. That is the ultimate test.

Wine tasting with sommelier Ben Agolimi

Healthy living

Yoga in the lounge at Perth

The gallant flight deck crew of Ben Jenkins, Cameron Powell, Brett Alexander and Robert Turner and the mood lighting which can be adjusted

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 16

DESTINATION USA

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he trip across the harbour took place at sundown, with the lights of the eateries and cocktail bars, beginning to do their “come and get me” twinkle.

The boatman was interested in his irish guests, all members of travel trade, so we sang a boatman’s lullaby to put him in the mood.

Baltimore has 9,700 beds, 14,600 when you include the airport, so room rates are going to be a fraction of what they re in nearby Washington. it has long been regarded as a fay trip form Washington. perhaps it is time to look at it the other way round.

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he city’s signature attraction, the American visionary art museum it’s like a roll of silver sticky tape left on its side.

I dis needed to stick together is a crazy cornucopia of art born out of trauma.

Tese artists were not classically trained.

Prisoners, mental patients,, outsiders revels, The art college they went to, in many cases, involved all sorts of emotional rollercoastering, abuse, rape, exclusion, marginalisation and humiliation.

Reading the life stories is as intriguing as looking at the often puzzling artwork.

Beating art With Visit USA in Baltimore

I

Baltimore on Chessapeake bay

n some ways the same might apply to the city of Baltimore.

It is situated on a beautiful harbour and teeming with history.

Bright new restaurants and night spots have sprung up on the smell industrial quays, using, as these regeneration do, the fabric of ancient warehousing.

The best cocktail bars try to recreate the atmosphere of the speakeasies

American Visionary Art Musum,

Baltimore harbour.

of the Wire era. Across the bay, you can see the green patches of the fortifications of 1812.

It was here that the Brits battered the coastal fortifications with their ship cannon with such venom, shock and awe, that it inspired the American national anthem.

Our flag was still there.

Americans know the line better than the back story.

In recent years the

battering has been a reputation. When third generation Galway man Martin O’Malley was elected mayor, the crime rate was among the highest in the country.

He adopted a slogan that would have done Guinness proud, believe, complete with black backdrop. We lost full

turned full circle.

Guinness now have a brewery in town. 

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he city, situated at the inner tip of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland, is just 30 minutes from Washington DC but has difficulties establishing

itself on the tourist trail.

It is close to BWI which is tipped as an option to become one of Aer Lingus’s A32LR airports.

In the meantime, take the trip down from Washington. you will not regret it.

And next time, stay.

n Eoghan Corry travelled to Baltimore courtesy of Brand USA n He flew to Wahsington DC on the Aer LIngus service

American Visionary Art Musum,

The Baltimore Museum of Art

Tara Povey of Where is Tara Feront: Tony Lane of Visit USA, Eric Masterson of Visit Baltimore, Marci Ross of Maryland Tourism, Baltimore harbour. Linda Collins of American Holidays, Cheryl Cleworth of Tropical Sky, Wendy McCartney of Clickandgo, front: Danielle O’Keeffe of Shandon Travel, Caroline Gallagher of Travel Department, Linda Collins of American Holidays, Jessie Krebs of Visit Baltimore,

New Dates and New Venue

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 18

DESTINATION AUSTRIA

Christmas city

In December, Salzburg comes to life View to the castle

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he Christmas market comes, not once, but many times a year.

Beside the cathedral, beloved of Irish visitors since St Fergal founded a church here 1300 years ago, in the biggest and most important of the eight Christmas markets in Salzburg, It opens 6pm on the Thursday before the Weekend before the advent season . There are 97 booths, with 13 for food and drink.

That makes it different from Germany, where 60pc of the booths in Germany are for food and drink.

The air soon fills with glühwein, and he pleasant St Nicholas characters wander in the crowd. All nice and pre-Disney, or even pre coca cola, because green rather than red is the prevailing colour and none of them go “ho ho ho.”

And then come the figures in horned masks and rugged furs, rampaging around the streets with birch and horsehair whips for unsuspecting bystanders legs, to the sound of giant clanking cowbells , chasing away the evil spirits of winter, and any delusions the tourist might have that this was a normal Christmas market.

A few miles outside the city in Hellbrunn Christmas market there is even a World of Krampus theme. It would be enough to make the vow to be nice, not naughty, next time round.

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he krampus run is an ancient Alpine tradition that goes back to pre-Christian times.

It is yet another reason to join the city’s other tourists, skiers in puffas

Mirabell Gardens,where the Von Trapps took music lessons

Marina Abramovic, “Spirit of Mozart” (2004) at Staatsbrücke, cathedral, collection of Krampusses at Hellsbrunn, Makartsteg, cathedral font

and ear muffs giving the mountains a miss for a few hours, atmosphere hounds seeking the live Gregorian chant at Nonnberg abbey, the culinary curious sampling Europe’s oldest restaurant, Stiftskeller St. Peter , and Mozart fans paying homage to the birthplace of their hero.

Salzburg has five hills, make that mountains, so the views are spectacular.

The bridge over the Salzach river, lover’s locks along the railings, catches the biting mountain wind, the Nordewind, sending tourists scurrying into Cafe Tomasell for coffee and apple strudel, run for 150 years by the same family.

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alzburg is a baroque city, pithing onion domes against the pointy spires of its more traditional contemporaries. Mozart should have been its signature, the Hagenauer Haus, No 9 Getreidegasse, his birthplace in 1756, and the festivals, pedestrianised city centre and horse drawn carriage

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 19

DESTINATION AUSTRIA

and costume heritage that sprung up around his childscape.

Then along came Julie Andrews and THAT movie.

Locals are getting used to the passion for the sound of music. Practically unknown on the mainland, The movie is big in England, Asia and emerging markets.

Performed memorably by the veteran tour guide 9since retired) Peter Nussbaumer, it was an accidental tourist attraction.

As was the hymn Stille Nacht, which became famous in USA first, Michael Dankl of Salzburg

museum told us.

The Mirabell gardens have become the city’s most popular wedding venue. They recall the day, seven years ago, that they had 34 weddings on one day, with that confetti glaze in their eyes.

n Eoghan Corry flew to Munich with Aer Lingus. n Aer Lingus fly 13w to Munich in winter.

Clockwise: St Fergal 700-784, Born in Laois, patron saint of Salzburg, Christmas market, cathedral at night, Sound of Music gazebo Michael Dankl

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JANUARY 2020 PAGE 20

GUIDED TOURS

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irst the name.. Escorted tours, as they were called, have a date feel about them. Nowadays travel professionals are expected to refer to guided holidays (guided vacations if you are in an American sphere of influence) or guided trip .

But the reality remains that a guided tour is the most effective way for customers to get the most value for their holiday 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

Luxury travel 1847

Alive A guide-oh A journey through GUIDED TOURS

having to queue, offering more time to see what each destination has to offer.

For new sales and firstto-tours, a customer who usually books a cruise is a good choice. Guided 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 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 AAT Kings n Colette Vacations n Contiki n Cosmos n Costsaver n Exodus n Explore n G Adventures n Globus n GTI n Insight Vacations n Luxury Gold n PAB n Riviera n Tauk n Trafalgar tours n Travel Department n Wendy Wu 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 Irish connected and 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 demographic 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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or 2020, Japan, boosted by the world cup is also featuring on guided tour guests. Wendy Wu’s advance bookings are up 47pc from Ireland.”it as a good mixture of everything they like.”

Insight see a pent up demand for Egypt, black in favour after a few years off the map.

France, which slowed down due to safety concerns, is returning and Scandinavian countries are proving attractive.

Russia always a good seller.

America continues to be a big attraction for Irish based guided tour companies.

Finding a new destination is also important.

Riviera started with two escorted tours to Norway last year and eventually sold nine.

John Booty of specialist China operators Wendy Wu says that he sees customers choosing longer breaks.

“We see them extending from 14 nights to 24 nights. the consumer wants to see it all in one go.

Wendy Wu finds Vietnam very strong this year.

Historically people who went for 10-12 nights are now going for 17-21 nights, and throwing in Cambodia and Laos as well.

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We’ll introduce your clients to authentic experiences, fascinating activities and expert insights that they could never enjoy as an independent traveller, such as meeting the captain of a 100-year-old barge and sailing on beautiful Lake Alqueva in Portugal.

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Your clients will experience fresh ingredients, seasonal menus, and excellent local wines to highlight the full ambience of the land, people and history they are visiting.

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JANUARY 2020 PAGE 22

GUIDED TOURS

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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 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.

Stephen Sands of Riviera travel says that, while hotels and comfort are important, experienced tour managers with a reputation, who know the product are the key to happy clients.

“Holiday makers can make the same excursions to a familiar destination with different companies and they will not have the same experience.”

Most of their coaches have a capacity of 49 in Europe which comes down to 39 long haul.

“Hotels are not as important as the overall experience. Our road trips to Portugal finish off in the Posada in Cascais.”

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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

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

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Mountain stop MUST get it.

“People like to show up in the Airport with their tickets and their spending money and have nothing else to worry about,” John booty of Wendy Wu says.

“What we are finding is that 40pc of our business are repeat customers.”

Wendy Wu will have 103 tours in 2020 and 735 group departures Sales in Ireland were up 27pc in 2019 and they are looking for 30pc growth in 2020. Far from the traditional model of the coach passengers with suitcases piled alongside, Wendy Wu tends to use coaches for airport transfers and much of their travel afterwards is by train, boat, aircraft or other modes of transport.

They now have a riverboat cruising parts of the Mekong that traditional river cruse companies tend to avoid.

“There is a maximum 28 in a group. We still use 40-passenger coaches so there is plenty of room.”

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uided 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.

Guided tours are available on every continent in the world, from budget to luxury, leisurely to fastpaced. They range anywhere from 6 to 34 days.

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ost 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.

Others offer the option to dine with local families in their homes, learn how to cook regional

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 guided tours only a small number of meals might be included and these can be group meals.

Some 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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iviera Travel staff undergo resort-based annual

NEW TOURS FOR 2020

WHAT WILL YOU EXPERIENCE ON YOUR NEXT EUROPEAN ADVENTURE? At Riviera Travel, we endeavour to exceed the expectations of travellers with our fascinating, innovative and award-winning escorted tours. We are passionate about creating an experience that delivers on all counts for our clients in terms of quality, value, experience and service.

You’ll gain tremendous insights into the fascinating destinations we visit, so each trip becomes an enriching journey of discovery.

THE UNIQUE RIVIERA TRAVEL STYLE...

Our clients often tell us we have a style unique in tour operating - a real family ambience; we have been told by a client ‘it was like travelling with family’.

This is exactly what we set out to achieve: most importantly treating our clients as individuals, tailoring our service to be flexible and catering for all needs.

many more tours to choose from...

HELSINKI, TALLINN, RIGA 8 days from only €1,119pp Departs June 2020

ISTANBUL, EPHESUS & TROY

7 days from only €1,099pp Departs March to May 2020

DISCOVER THE REAL TENERIFE & LA GOMERA 8 days from only €1,059pp

Departs March 2020

SWITZERLAND, THE MATTERHORN & THE GLACIER EXPRESS 8 days half board from €1,509pp

Departs June 2020

AUSTRIAN TYROL & INNSBRUCK

DORDOGNE, ALBI & CARCASSONNE

8 days half board from €1,369pp

8 days from only €1,419pp

Departs September 2020

Departs September 2020

For further details or to request a brochure, please call: 01

IMPERIAL CITIES OF MOROCCO

Eight days from only €1,139pp Departs April 2020

Visit the website for our entire range of holidays.

905 6321

To book online or to watch videos from a selection of our tours, visit:

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 (ATOL number 3430) Prices correct at time of print.

Travel Extra Full Page Tours Ad - November 2019.indd 1

07/11/2019 15:15

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 24

GUIDED TOURS as battle field tours. The company recently acquired MAP Travel.

John Grehan heads up the G Adventures offering in Ireland and has increased the group’s activities with the trade.

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 appearing on more itineraries with 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.

Red Rocks Colorado 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 un-

necessary, 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.

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nsight uses 56-seat coaches and refits them for 40 seats, giving more pitch, and what the company calls business class legroom.

To more exotic destinations, 20 people is the maximum on a coach.

As Sharon Jordan says, for the more intrepid destinations the coach has to be smaller to navigate the roads.

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.

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ach of the companies highlights its offering for solo travellers.

Guided 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 specialists saw a rise of 34pc.

Wendy Wu Tours has seen an 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.

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caution from another trend.

Sales of guided tours are harder work as the product evolves.

The emergence of the independent travel gave organisers of guided trips a thumbnail guide: that short haul destinations sold to an older demographic and long haul trips sold to those who did not want the hassle of making complicated arrangements.

This has remained the case, but new trends are emerging.

Sharon Jordan of night says that “that travel matters, seems to be the trend.”

She stresses backup for trade sales. Insight have a dedicated team looking after the trade and are ten years in the market.”

One response is the growth in sustainable tours and active tours which is accelerating and expanding beyond obvious destinations and clientele.

GTI, headed up by Derek Keogh sells historical experiences such

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emember that not all Guided 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

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 25

SPECIAL FEATURE

Wendy Wu thanks the trade

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n behalf of Wendy Wu, John Warr and John booty would like to thank the trade for their csupport during the year.

On the back of their most successful year of sales in Ireland, Wendy Wu Tours have launched a

new collection of highly desirable escorted tours to China, Japan, Central and Southeast Asia, India and Sri Lanka as well as venturing further afield into the Latin America.

John Booty, sales manager

Ireland and Isle of Man for Wendy Wu said: “2019 has been an outstanding year for us with revenue up a third on 2018.

Overall the escorted touring market is extremely buoyant in Ireland, now representing close to a quarter of all holiday sales, testament to the appeal of this burgeoning travel sector.”

“With a greater selection of touring styles available, including our dedicated range of tours for solo travellers plus ‘Go Beyond’, our range of more adventurous tours, we are now able to cater to more customers than ever before.”

Commenting on the choice of upgrade offers, John Warr, global sales director for Wendy Wu said: “When it comes to flight upgrades, Wendy Wu Tours are unique in the travel sector as no one else can offer the range and choice of upgrades that we offer. Both the Business class and Premium Economy options are a luxurious addition to your holiday, especially when flying long haul halfway

across the world.

Given the demand for these upgrades and their incredible value for money, they do sell out quickly and so, for fear of missing out, we encourage customers to book right away.”

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MEKONG SHIP ighlights include three NEW escorted tours in the Mekong Delta on the operator’s new, deluxe, state-of-the-art river cruise ship, Victoria Mekong. !

Billed as one of the most exciting and eagerly awaited cruise ship launches of 2019, Victoria Mekong takes river cruising to a new level adopting a stylish and contemporary design with an Asia twist. The ship makes its debut at the end of this year and will sail four new group tours and two new private tours through Vietnam and Cambodia, all with a maximum of only 18 people per group. www.wendywutours.ie for more information.

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 26

AFLOAT MSC Cruises says it will become the first carbon-neutral cruise line by January 1, 2020.

MSC will offset all carbon dioxide emissions through tree planting, contributing to and creating marine projects, and supporting communities that rely on the sea. it has set a goal to reduce carbon emissions across its fleet by 40pc by 2030. MSC plans to trial a ground-breaking research and development project on its first World Class ship, MSC Europa, aimed at producing electricity and heat using liquified natural gas.

PORT ROYAL Jamaica will host Marella Discovery 2 its first cruise passengers to Port Royal, a sunken city across the bay from Kingston, in January. The heritage city featured in the first instalment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. The original town sunk in an earthquake in 1692.

The promenade with its extra legroom

Grand entrance

ROYAL Caribbean launched ‘Taste of

Royal’ lunch experience, a four-course meal featuring dishes from Wonderland, Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen and Chops Grille. The cost is $54.99 per person (free for children up to age 5, and $10 for children ages 6 to 10) plus an 18pct gratuity.

OASIS of the Seas has been refurbished complete with 30 cabins placed above the bridge, including two Ultimate Panoramic Suites, a new-to-Royal cabin category with sweeping views, a refurbished space for teenagers called Social 298 and additions from other ships such as he escape room, ultimate abyss, lime and coconut, music hall, playmakers sports bar and perfect storm. Royal Promenade offered two private karaoke booths.

AVALON Waterways Meredith Vieira godmother of the 166-passenger Avalon View, to enter service on the rivers of Europe and sail the Danube, it will be christened in Ybbs, Austria, on April 6, 2020.

ROYAL Caribbean will open its first

Royal Beach Club in Antigua in 2021, available only to passengers of Royal Caribbean cruise ships.

ST KITTS A new $48m pier capable of handling ships the size of Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class vessels and Carnival’s new Excel Class Mardi Gras opened at Port Zante on the Caribbean island of St Kitts. Located in Basseterre, the multimillion-dollar project was financed by four different sources, including the island’s Citizenship by Investment programme.

AMAWaterways announced a new-build Nile river ship to carry 70 passengers, the majority in suites, a follow up to the double-width Europe-based AmaMagna.

SAGA Cruises revealed plans for a newbuild 190-passenger river ship, Spirit of the Rhine, that will debut in spring 2021.

HURTIGRUTEN christened its newest expedition vessel, Roald Amundsen, Chiriguano Bay on Brabant Island on the shores of Antarctica on November 7.

ROYAL Caribbean to debut Ultimate Panoramic Suites on Oasis of the Seas.

MSC hosts Irish travel trade in Southampton sailing

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SC Ireland manager Suzanne Rowe hosted Irish trade on board the 6,297 passenger MSC Grandiosa, the line’s first Meraviglia Plus Class vessel and the largest in the Genoa-based cruise line’s fleet.

Grandiosa is 16 metres longer than MSC’s Meraviglia Class ships and has 200 more cabins, plus space to pack in more facilities including a longer indoor promenade with more shopping and dining options.

MSC Grandiosa was officially handed over at Saint-Nazaire and sailed to Southampton.

It is environmentally friendly, with 11 different green technologies,

such as hydrodynamics, wastewater management, hybrid exhaust and a catalytic reduction system Passengers will most notice the increased length of MSC Grandiosa in the Promenade, the indoor thoroughfare with shops, bars and eateries and crowned by a 93-metre “digital sky” LED screen, the largest at sea.

Images are projected onto the ceiling 24 hours a day, and sound and light shows three times a day.

MSC Grandiosa hosts eight fullscale theatrical productions, including ABBA tribute, an abridged version of La Traviata, and two new Cirque du Soleil at Sea shows.

Grandiosa’s Carousel Lounge has

added 80 LED spheres to create a large array of visual effects, moving LED lights and a lift in the centre of the 360° rotating stage.

Virtual personal cruise assistant Zoe was launched on MSC Bellissima. MSC Grandiosa has 12 restaurants. Signature venues include L’Atelier Bistrot, which debuted on MSC Bellissima in March 2019, and the new Il Campo, with a Spanish-themed decor,.

Prepare for a shock. The lifts have no buttons for different decks. You select the floor you want on a touchpad. An overhead light indicates the next available lift and once you are inside there is no going back.

STENA PLANS JANUARY START FOR NEW SHIP

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hen Stena Estrid, replaces Superfast X on Dublin Holyhead route in January, it may get a fifth rotation.

Currently there are four rotations on the route, which takes 3 hours 15 minutes with a two hour turnaround for the ship.

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The new craft brings 50pc extra freight capacity, an enhanced passenger experience and considerable fuel savings.

Diane Pool says that fuel consideration will determine whether the extra rotation is added, as the journey team needs to be shortened

and possibly turnaround time. Turnaround times will likely be affected by the proposed Brexit of October 2019.

Stena are avoiding giving an exact launch date for the ferry on the route but Superfast X will remain on the route until it is ready.

Diane Poole of Stena

BELFAST HOPES FOR DEADLINE

nfrastrata, the company that agreed to buy Harland and Wolff, has not met an initial deadline to pay part of the purchase

price of the shipyard.

Having paid a £500,000 deposit at the start of October, Infrastrata had a “soft” target to pay £3.3

m on Thursday. A spokesperson for the company said they’re now aiming for a “backstop” date of December 31. The spokes-

person cited due diligence as the reason for the delay but stressed there is no cause for concern regarding completion of the deal.

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 27

AFLOAT

Norwegian Encore

Smoky at sea

Encore’s casino provides an odourous distraction

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orwegian Encore launched in Germany at an event attended by 40 members for the Irish travel trade.

The hugely over stated casino and the smell of smoke that pervaded through the upper decks, was criticised by many who attended the launch. It was the last Norwegian ship to be built at the Meyer-Werft shipyard, and the last biggun, 4,000 passengers and 29 restaurants.

The next new ship from Norwegian will be the Leonardo Class, which launches in 2021; with 3,000-passengers. Features unique to Encore include restaurant Onda by Scarpetta has just launched on Norwegian Encore The Breakaway Plus-class ships include Norwegian Escape, Norwegian Bliss and Norwegian Joy have been the line’s most successful, according to CE Andy Stuart: these

four ships were modelled on the original Norwegian Breakaway, which arrived in 2012.

Features on the Breakaway class included: n Large observation lounge n outdoor promenade giving each entertainment venue an outside area n entertainment and dining in one place across three decks, apart from the main theatre and the largest main dining room

CLIA’S FIRST IRISH CRUISE CONFERENCE

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he Cruise Lines International Association held its first Irish conference in the Red Cow. Over recent months the Association has increased its profile with a steering group of Irish agents.

CLIA’s calculated that 48,300 cruises were

taken by Irish passengers in 2018, up 8.3pc for the second successive year.

The figures show that cruise from Ireland has only now recovered to pre recession levels, although industry figures from the pre-CLIA days were not officially collated and are disputed

by cruise lines.

The average age remained consistent at 48 years, slightly below the average age for Europe cruise passengers.

Andy Harmer of CLIA said figures showed that Irish passengers aged between zero and 39 years were the highest ever.

BRITTANY Ferries new ship Kerry, has commenced sailing from Ireland to Spain.

The one-year charter vessel will replace the Connemara on the Cork to Santander route until November 2020. The ship offers two direct overnight sailings each week, departing from Cork on a Monday or Friday night and return from Santander on a Thursday and Sunday. Return ferry pricing start from €108pp.

IRISH Ferries launched Summer 2020 in France. on the WB Yeats, with I0pc off until Tuesday 3rd December.

NORWEGIAN

Andy harmer of CLIA

ODYSSEY BRINGS NEW FEATURES

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oyal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas, to launch in November 2020, will feature VR playground, a twoLevel pool deck, and new restaurants.

It will feature experiences already available

across the fleet, including the FlowRider, RipCord by iFly, SkyPad bungee trampoline experience and dining venues such as Giovanni’s Kitchen and Chop’s Grille. SeaPlex, Royal Caribbean’s signature indoor activity space,

ROYAL Caribbean European itineraries for 2021 sees Anthem of the Seas return to Southampton and Harmony of the Seas return to Barcelona. The new Odyssey of the Seas, Royal Caribbean’s second Quantum Ultra class ship, will sail through Turkey and Greece. All itineraries are available to book with the exception of Odyssey of the Seas and Adventure of the Seas which will be open to book w/c December 9. n Harmony of the Seas will be sailing 7-night itineraries through the Western Mediterranean from Barcelona. Round-trip sailings from Rome are also available. n Vision of the Seas will continue to offer 12-night Mediterranean itineraries from Barcelona sailing the Greek Isles and making stops in Kotor, Montenegro; Nice, France; Rome, Florence/Pisa, Italy and include an overnight in Venice, Italy and late nights in Split, Croatia. n Jewel of the Seas will end the summer homeported in Barcelona where she’ll transport guests to the Iberian Peninsula and Greek Isles including stops in Cannes, France; Athens and Santorini, Greece. n Rhapsody of the Seas will spend another summer season in Venice offering 7-night sailings alternating between Greece/Croatia and the Greek Isles. Select sailings will offer late nights in Kotor, Montenegro. n Jewel of the Seas sailings from her homeport of Amsterdam to Britain and Ireland and Baltics will include overnights in Edinburgh (S. Queensferry), Scotland and in S Petersburg, Russia; as well as late-nights in Liverpool, England and Bordeaux, France. n Adventure of the Seas will offer 7- to 11-night sailings including overnights in St. Petersburg, Russia from Stockholm, Sweden and will also sail to Helsinki, Finland; Tallin, Estonia and Visby, Sweden. Adventure will be open for booking the week of December 9.

will be reimagined and extended and used for the glow-in-the-dark Clash for the Crystal City laser tag experience, found on many of the line’s other ships.

Culinary additions include Teppanyaki, a hibachi-style Japanese eatery,

El Loco Fresh and Playmakers, will be some of the line’s most popular dining venues including Izumi, Chop’s Grille, Wonderland and Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen & Wine Bar.

Spirit will undergo a 40-day, $100m refurbishment starting January 2020, the last ship to undergo the line’s Norwegian Edge refurb program.

CARNIVAL Cruise Line has taken delivery of Carnival Panorama, its third -- and final -- Vista-class cruise ship, at Fincantieri’s Marghera shipyard in Italy.

UNIWORLD

River Cruises is introducing a Floating Deposit option to cruisers who put down a $500 deposit for their next cruise while onboard. Members of the loyalty program, the River Heritage Club, can now receive a referral benefit for introducing new people to uniworld.

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 28

THE FLYING COLUMN DAVRA, an Irish IoT start-up, was

awarded funding from the European Space Agency Centre for Earth Observation, 50pc co-funding for a €570,000 project to develop an integrated satellite and distributed ground sensor system to monitor missing tailings storage facilities in remote locations.

THOMPSON Aero Seating in Portadown has fallen into the red with a £27.7m loss in 2018.following a £10.7m pre-tax profit in 2017. It blamed an inability to meet the demand created from an “aggressive uptake in business during 2017”. Thompson expects 2019 to be “another difficult trading year” but that the firm predicts a “level of stabilisation and return to profitability” in 2020. The firm makes seats for clients including Aer Lingus, Delta Air Lines, China Eastern and Philippine Airlines

LAUDA has deferred making the quick 100 A320neo order it announced last year due to abundant availability of leased A320ceos.

Michael O’Leary said Laudamotion is currently registering around a €1m loss daily at Vienna Airport. He said the LCC is expected to register a loss of €70-75m in 2020, increased from a previously forecast loss of €50m. He noted this is expected to improve in the coming 12 months through “slightly higher” average prices and will contribute towards profitability in 2021. Contrary to rumour, Lauda is reported to be wet-leasing 4 B737-800s from Ryanair this summer to cover serviceability problems.

Colin Casey will not be taking over as CEO. NORWEGIAN’s Q3 results indicate

improved profitability, higher unit revenue, lower unit cost and reduced growth. Profit before tax improved by 38pc. Revenue per ASK and per RPK was up 3pc. Revenue was up 8pc, passengers down 3pc due to lower capacity.

CUBANA

had two aircraft repossessed by lessors in order to comply with new US sanctions and was forced to suspend flights to Mexico, Venezuela, and the Caribbean.

EIRTECH Aviation Services, a provider of specialist aviation services for the largest airlines and aircraft leasing companies globally was recapitalised. Headquartered in Shannon with offices in Dublin and Singapore, EAS provides design-engineering, manufacturing and product solutions, as well as asset management and CAMO services, that ensure regulatory compliance with FAA, EASA and other local jurisdiction mandates. EAS’s turnkey services provide full support to airlines, aircraft leasing companies, private operators and OEMs for all their fleet transition and modification requirements. EAS was founded in 2009 by entrepreneurs Niall Cunningham and Gerry O’Shea.

AIR ZIMBABWE has its sole operational aircraft, a B767-200, impounded in Johannesburg by Airports Company of South Africa over debt.

THAILAND’s Transport Minister has

expressed concern that the national flag carrier may be in danger of running up net losses of USD$330m this year.

Willie Walsh: anticipates new Aer Lingus A321 trans Atlantic routes will resume again in 2021

Lingus Italian job Four short haul routes but no new trans-Atlantic

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er Lingus have announced four new short haul routes for 2020, but held off any expansion into North America until a delay on deliveries of Airbus aircraft have been overcome.

Aer Lingus announced Alghero and Brindisi 2w from Dublin and Barcelona 4w from Shannon as well as Paris CDG. Orlando increases from 4w to 6w, Miami from 2w to 3w and Seattle from 5w to daily during summer.

Los Angeles, Washington DC. and Minneapolis St. Paul which will be serviced by the larger Airbus A330 aircraft.

By summer 2020 Aer Lingus will have replaced the full Boeing 757 fleet with four news Airbus A321 neo LR aircraft which will operate with over 20pc greater fuel efficiency.

IAG CEO Willie Walsh says that Aer Lingus have replanned their network, particularly in regard to the transatlantic, to reflect planned A321LR delays.

He predicted that delays will continue through ‘20 and 2021 and

maybe into the early part of 2022. “It is disappointing, but I suppose that the good news is we’ve got a better sense of the extent of these delays.

“I spent some time with the Airbus team a couple of weeks ago, and Guillaume Faury, I think, gave me the best and clearest undertaking that I’ve had for some time in relation to what Airbus are doing there.

During the IAG results Walsh said Aer Lingus performance in the third quarter was particularly encouraging and reinforces the strategic decision to acquire Aer Lingus and to continue to invest in their transatlantic growth, which has proven to be very attractive for us.

You should expect that to continue going forward as Aer Lingus takes delivery of more A321s, A330s, and beyond that, the A321 XLR. So transatlantic is good.

“We see opportunities to expand the network, and we may have some news in relation to that. So that would apply to BA, Aer Lingus and to Iberia, so it’s clearly an area that is continuing to perform well for us.

I think all the evidence is that Aer Lingus performance was organic improvement, very limited transfer of customers from BA to Aer Lingus.

IAG is to cut back expansion of its short-haul services next year as the global economy continues to weaken.

Group chief executive Willie Walsh said the move would span all of IAG’s brands — which also include British Airways, and Spanish carriers Iberia and Vueling.

Walsh said IAG would continue to grow Aer Lingus’ transatlantic business, performance of which this year has been very pleasing he said.

More North American routes are likely to be announced towards the end of next year, following the launch of a new service from Dublin to Montreal, which had already been announced but was delayed due to slow delivery of a new plane order from Airbus.

Walsh said last month’s cut in Irish airport charges for airlines by the Commission for Aviation Regulation was “on balance, a fair and good determination”.

LINGUS PHILIPPINES CALL CENTRE

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er Lingus has moved part of its customer service operation to the Philippines.

This follows a decision by the airline in August not to renew a contract with Kerry-based Fexco, which

had been dealing with a portion of queries from customers in Ireland and Europe.

The carrier says it will move many of the functions back to another leading European customer service provider early next

year.

After that, the call centre in the Philippines will revert to providing web chat and out-of-hours customer support, with the new European based provider managing the majority of customer queries from Ire-

land and Europe.

Fexco will continue to provide services in the area of group bookings. Aer Lingus said it continues to operate its US-based call centre and its specialist team based in Dublin.

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 29

THE FLYING COLUMN AIR FRANCE and Cork Airport

announced twice daily AF service Paris CDGCork with Embraer 170/190 for summer20: ex Cork at 0625 and 1420, ex CDG at 1250 and 2045, significantly increasing connectivity.

SHANNON Mary Considine is taking over as Chief Executive of Shannon Group. Ms Considine has been Acting Chief Executive of Shannon Group, responsible for the mid-western airport, its commercial properties and heritage business, since June of this year.

RYANAIR was denied permission from Serbia to operate its planned service from Hahn to Nis, due to launch January 11 2010. It may operate Hahn to Banja Luka in Bosnia & Herzegovina from February.

Alan Joyce speaking at Dublin Chamber event

Joycean scholar

Qantas CEO returns triumphant to Dublin Chamber

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antas CEO Alan Joyce paid tribute to the Irish education system and to Aer Lingus when he spoke at the Dublin Chamber event in the exhibition centre.

“I had no interest in aviation when I left university but I applied for a job in Aer Lingus. You have to recognise the impact Aer Lingus have had on world aviation. It has been phenomenal.

“A lot of Aer Lingus colleagues are here tonight. Stephen Kavanagh who worked with me. Conor McCarthy who was my boss in Aer Lingus.

And when you think of the impact. Tony Ryan worked for Aer Lingus. He set up GPA which is now GECAS. Now 60pc of world aviation leasing is done here in Ireland. What an amazing outcome that was.

“At the same time I was in Aer Lingus Willie Walsh was there. He now runs IAG. Cormac McCarthy

was there. Without Cormac Air Asia would never have got started. The largest low-cost carrier in Asia. Jetstar the largest low-cost carrier in Australia would not have got started because Connor helped me set that up.

“The eight years there at Aer Lingus was an amazing foundation for me to go to Australia and have a role in Australian aviation. The first job I had was in planning in Qantas. The net just job was setting up Jetstar. It was a low-cost carrier that we aimed to be a bit like Ryanair at the start, which was not a good idea..”

He told the stories of how he had to field media questions about Jetstar’s policies of charging for extras such as bags in the early days of the airline.

Jetstar flight sectors are, of necessity, longer than Ryanair’s.

He talked about project Sunrise with its plans to fly direct from Lon-

don to Sydney, building on the popularity of the direct 17-hour fright form London to Perth.

Separately, Joyce said Qantas profit before tax of AU$1.30bn in the 12 months to end July was particularly positive given mixed market conditions in Australia.

“Even with headwinds like fuel costs and foreign exchange, we remain one of the best performing airline groups in the world. Our performance is the result of having the right strategy and the ability to deliver it.

Our dual brand approach with Qantas and Jetstar continued to give us a leadership position in the corporate, premium leisure and budget travel categories, all with strong margins.

We’ve carved out some unique advantages like the Perth-London route and there is a lot of value still to be unlocked through our alliances.

RYANAIR GROWS WINTER SHARE

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irport Coordination reports slots at Dublin Airport are showing 3.9pc fewer air transport movements for winter 2019-20 at 83,498.

This is 1.2pc fewer than the final version or “actual” for winter 2018-19.

Seats cleared are 24.06m, down 4.2pc on projected 2018-19, 1.2pc on actual.

The winter 2019-20 numbers could be lower as

they include Cathay Pacific which is cancelled for the winter.

The peak week this year is the first week of the winter schedule, while last year it was the week before Christmas. Ryanair has most approved peak week seats, up 9.7pc to 305,424, with capacity up from 39.8pc to 43.5pc.

Aer Lingus and Aer Lingus Regional share is

35.5pc, down from 35.7pc.

The combined share of Aer Lingus and Ryanair is 79.0pc, up from 75.5pc, a reversal of recent trends, followed by 3 British Airways up 2.2pc, 4 Lufthansa down 7.7pc, 5 Emirates down 7.4pc, 6 KLM down 2.2pc, 7 SAS up 3.9pc, 8 Flybe down 43pc, 9 Air France down 1.1pc, 10 United up 66pc. Norwegian and Etihad have fallen

out of the top 10, replaced

by SAS and United.

All other passenger carriers have a share of 21.0pc, down from 24.5pc and their capacity is down about 14pc, mainly Norwegian, Etihad, Flybe, Ethiopian, Hainan, WOW, TUI and Lufthansa.

In all 44 passenger carriers in all have slots for next winter compared to 41 last year.

LAUDA has announced Vienna-Shannon from 01Apr20, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The increase in the Tourism Ireland route development fund announced in Budget 2020 is a significant factor.

LATAM During the IAG results Willie

Walsh congratulated Delta on their move to acquire a 20pc stake in LATAM, which he described as a very good strategic move.

SHANNON Group plc is on target to

complete a new €18m, 92,000 sq ft specialist aircraft painting hangar at Shannon Airport, adjacent to Shannon Free Zone and capable of accommodating some of the world’s largest aircraft. Shannon Group will lease the hangar to IAC – International Aerospace Coating, a leading global aircraft painting, interiors and graphics specialist. Another 190 metres of new taxiway to facilitate aircraft movements is being undertaken as part of the project.

INVERIN Minister for State for the Gaeltacht Seán Kyne said the Department of Rural and Community Development will fund the purchase of Connemara airport from Padraig O Ceidigh.

WHISPR, founded by Dubliner Hugh

O’Flanagan and Keith Saft, has developed a voice guidance platform that is designed to help front-line workers be hands-free and carry out manual tasks more effectively.and will take part in the IAG accelerator programme, Hangar 51 and spend 10 weeks working with Iberia in Madrid.

BOEING Fifty B737NG planes globally have been grounded over cracks found in pickle forks (which attach the wings and fuselage).

CSO figures show more aircraft arrived at every Irish airport in 2018 than departed, and in every month except April: over 300 in all, mostly to Dublin.

LAUDA A320 aircraft are to operate more Ryanair services at Palma next summer.

BRAZIL‘s Tourism Ministry reported the arrival of SKY Airline Chile and Norwegian Air in the Brazilian market led to lower air fares on international routes from Brazil to London by up to 23pc and to Santiago de Chile by up to 17pc.

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 30

THE FLYING COLUMN EASYJET seat growth this winter is set

to be 0.6pc, with the number of flights operated down 0.7pc.

LOGANAIR plans to build a fleet of around 20 ATR 42-500 turboprops over the next several years as it begins to replace its long-serving Saab 340s and 2000s.

BLUE AIR Romania recorded a €3.4m net profit and €8.9m operating profit in the financial year ended September 30.

VUELING has become the first low cost carrier to offer European Aviation Network (inflight Wi-Fi, with an initial “soft launch” on five Airbus A320-family aircraft.“The rollout will progressively continue over the coming months, with installations expected to be completed on its fleet of more than 110 A319, A320 and A321 aircraft by early next year.

NORWEGIAN Willie Walsh commented that Norwegian went in with prices which were clearly unsustainable from a profitability point of view. They stimulated some new demand, but it’s at a very low price.

And that demand doesn’t continue to exist if these artificially low fares are removed from the market. So I don’t anticipate any impact, positive or negative, on Norwegian’s departure from the Irish market. It wasn’t really impacting Aer Lingus at all. I think the evidence of that was the continuing strong performance of Aer Lingus through the period of competition with Norwegian and the Irish market.

RYANAIR is to replace its Budapest

base with one of its Polish subsidiary Buzz which has lower costs, and can compete against Wizz Air.

STOBART Air has entered into a wet

lease agreement with Flybe for two Embraer 190 aircraft, operating Belfast City and Edinburgh to London City with one E190 aircraft will be based at each of locations, operating throughout the winter schedule from Dec1.

DUBLIN Airport handled 3m passengers

in September, with Britain up 1pc, Europe up 6pc, transatlantic routes up 4pc, and Middle East, North Africa and the Asia Pacific routes unchanged. So far this year, the number of passengers using Dublin Airport as a hub to connect to other destinations has increased by 6pc, to 1.5m passengers” (750,000 connections).

Passenger numbers in the year to date are up 5pc to 25.5m.

CITYJET will no longer operate Avro RJ85s on behalf of Air France and subsidiary Hop!, as the contract has ended. A similar contract with Lufthansa also ended.

AIR ARABIA Maroc reduced operations at Agadir and ended Agadir-Dublin 2w.

AMCK Aviation leasing company

launched combining the established leasing platforms of Accipiter (Ireland) and MCAP (Japan), has launched. AMCK has 145 aircraft, with a total value of US$6bn, under management and a further 30 committed aircraft, including an order book with Airbus.

Wizz Air, Founder & CEO, Jozsef Varadi

Wizz grows most

Easyjet and Norwegian pull out of airline growth race

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uropean airport and airline capacity numbers for the coming winter show little change when compared last year, according to Ralph Anker.

The number of flights from European airports as a whole is set to rise by 2.5pc this winter, seat capacity will increase by 3.7pc and ASKs will grow by 4.7pc.

Among Europe’s top 30 airlines,

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22 are reporting growth compared with last winter while 8 are currently scheduling a reduction in capacity.

Three of the top 30 carriers are reporting cuts of more than 10pc in seat capacity; Eurowings (down 12pc), Flybe (down 16pc) and Norwegian (down 18pc).

Wizz Air plans to grow by 23pc.

Turkish Airlines plans to grow 6pc.

This growth is coming from an

11pc rise in international capacity as domestic capacity is virtually unchanged from last winter.

Despite now not receiving a significant number of 737 MAXs this year, Ryanair is still registering a 4pc growth in seat capacity this winter. In contrast, easyJet is currently scheduling no growth across its European airports.

RYANAIR PLANS 4pc GROWTH

yanair, excluding Lauda, will be growing seat capacity by an estimated 4pc this winter..

The airline will be serving 12 other airports this winter that it did not serve last winter - Beirut, Bilbao, Brive, Exeter, Haugesund, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kutaisi, Menorca, Odessa, Tbilisi and Yerevan.

Ryanair will not be serving several other airports this winter that it did last winter. - Lorient, Montpellier, Pardubice, Santorini,

Tampere, Vigo and Warsaw Chopin.

France grows most, headed by Bordeaux (258,000 departing seats).

Germany capacity is down 11pc.

Ryanair is no longer serving Düsseldorf, Leipzig or Stuttgart this winter, but is starting service Dresden-Stansted (3 pw) and Palma (2 pw) on 29 Oct. Ryanair is cutting capacity from Spain (305,000 departing seats, 2.2pc) and from Greece (197,000, 20pc).

Ryanair shows seat growth at Milan Bergamo (232,000), Marseille (221,000), Prague (213,000), Budapest (207,000), Katowice (167,000), Tel Aviv (165,000), Milan Malpensa (153,000), Krakow (148,000), Southend (148,000), Toulouse (141,000), Kyiv (140,000), Copenhagen (128,000) & Malta (121,000).

It is switching from old to new airports at Eilat and Murcia.

Ryanair reduces seats

by over 100,000 at six airports/cities - Athens (down 114,000 seats, 20pc cut), Frankfurt (down 152,000 seats, 31pc cut), Frankfurt HHN (down 135,000 seats, 44pc cut), Tenerife TFS (down 150,000 seats), London STN (down 160,000 seats, 4pc cut) and Belfast International (down 207,000 seats, 85pc cut).

Overall, Ryanair will be reducing British capacity by 3pc, while easyJet increases by less than 1pc

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 31

THE FLYING COLUMN AIR NEW ZEALAND

launched non-stop service between Auckland and Newark using its B787-9. It is to cease the daily through B777-300ER operations to London via LAX. Los Angeles-London has been a flagship route for Air New Zealand and an important link connecting New Zealand and Europe since its launch in 1982, but Acting CEO Jeff McDowall says market dynamics have affected performance in recent years.

AIRBUS plans to drop its proposal to

charge royalties on MRO invoices, as most MROs do not plan to sign the agreement accepting the policy.

RYANAIR launched its largest program in France for the summer of 2020 with 35 new routes, including 8 new routes and 27 new summer routes. With 233 lines in total, this summer program will bring 12.7m annual passengers and 9pc for Ryanair in France.

Grounded Norwegian B737 Max at Dublin airport

B737 Max smart

Ryanair expects return of B737 to be delayed to May

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yanair CEO Michael O’Leary is prepare for zero growth next summer if there is a further delay on delivery of the Boeing MAX aircraft.

“Being conservative we think we will get only twenty aircraft next summer. That might move further out. We might only get ten. We might get none.

“Boeing have said: we want to deliver you fifty aircraft over a two month period. We said we are not taking more than eight aircraft a month, about two a week. That is as fast as we would want to bring aircraft into the fleet.

“There is no issue with the aircraft, or with the pilots training on them.

We can readily accommodate them.

But even when we were taking delivery of the NG, we never took more than eight a month because it does require to have engineers over there and pilots over there, to do the delivery flights.

“Under the latest delivery schedule we are scheduled to get eight in

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April, eight in May and June, which would be a total of nearly thirty aircraft.

“We would probably see that would slip back by a month, which would mean we would get five in May, eight in June and eight in July.

O’Leary says it looks likely that the MAX will return to service in north America, approved by the FAA this side of Christmas or immediately after Christmas.

He speculates that the US airlines will not be anxious to take delivery of too many aircraft in the northern winter and says that the European EASA, won’t want to be seen to be moving at the same date as the FAA. “They want to be seen to be regulatorily and politically independent of the FAA, so they are going to wait a month or two. It will probably take another two months to move.

We have had our chief pilots out there. We have the only MAX simulator in Europe in Stansted. The aircraft is great. They love the plane.

Remember this aircraft has flown for

more than twelve months in North America for multiple airlines, Southwest, United, Delta.”

Regarding the pickle fork cracks, O’Leary said Ryanair’s checks showed up fewer aircraft that the industry average. “It is nothing serious.

It is not safety related. They called for a mandatory series of checks. The checks were extended to everything to everything above 20,000 cycles.

This is about ten years ago. We found 3pc Boeing world wide ratio is 5pc.

Our ratio is lower than that.

The somewhat fraught relationship between Boeing and the regulators at the moment.

It will not affect the safety of the aircraft or the safety of the passengers.

European regulators expect to clear the B737 MAX to return to service in January 2020 at the earliest, following flight trials by European test pilots scheduled for mid-December 2019.

BOEING TAKE HIT FROM MAX

oeing announced 2019 Q3 revenue down 21pc to $20 bn, driven by lower B737 deliveries, partially offset by higher defence and ser-

vices volume Net earnings are down 51pc to $1.17 bn. Operating cash flow was a negative $2.4 bn, down from +$4.6 bn. Nevertheless,

dividends of $1.2 bn were paid and a further dividend of $2.055 announced. It is reducing the B787 production rate from 14 to 12/ month for two years be-

ginning in late 2020. The B777X is on track for first flight in early 2020, now targeting first delivery in early 2021

RYANAIR’s 2 B737 base in Hamburg will close on January 8. After that, remaining flights will be operated by crews stationed elsewhere in Europe, such as in Palma, and

by Lauda Air. The airport will lose all direct services to Krakow and Verona and Ryanair to Faro, Lisbon, Las Palmas, Oslo-Torp and Zadar. Ryanair already stopped services from Hamburg to Madrid, Thessaloniki and Venice.

RYANAIR has awarded a multi-million contract to Dungannon, Co Tyrone, engineering firm Mallaghan to deliver a 32 strong fleet of Mallaghan 50W airport buses. Mallaghan claims this is currently the largest capacity airport bus, capable of carrying up to 125 passengers.

SAFEDOCK Dublin Airport has chosen ADB safe gate to provide its Safedock Advanced Visual Docking Guidance Systems (A-VDGS). The company will also link its SafeControl Apron Management (SAM) to support Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) on the apron. With this, Dublin Airport will be able to increase efficiency at every stage of the turnaround process, reduce delays and unnecessary fuel burn, and better utilise resources. The Safedock installations commenced in March 2019, and are expected to be completed by early 2020.

FINGAL Council rejected an application

by Andona Holdings Ltd to extend a helicopter maintenance and heli facility at Forrest Great, Cloghran, Swords, west of Forrest Little Golf Club, and to omit current restrictions on helicopter movements, currently four movements per day, 15 per week and to amend opening operating hours to 0700-1900 local (currently 0800-1800).

SHANNON Chamber Submission to the DTTAS consultation on the new Regional Airports Programme 2020-2024 heavily emphasises relative funding disadvantages in competition with Kerry, including PSO subsidy and diversion from State-funded Iarnród Éireann and w in Knock, with potentially better value from supports for airline connectivity than from PSO subsidies.

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 32

THE FLYING COLUMN AER LINGUS

operating margin 24.5pc was up 2.9 points on last year. Return on Invested Capital at Aer Lingus was 22.6pc.

Aer Lingus was reported as performing well, with ASK growth is expected to be 1.0pc in Q4 and 4.3pc for the year.

STEWART International reported

traffic is down 10pc in 2019 H1 and what remains is all domestic (American Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Delta Air Lines and Allegiant Air), in a roughly 50:50 full service/low cost split after the departure of Norwegian, partly due to its financial circumstances and partly due to the grounding of the B737 MAX.

AER LINGUS paid a €225m divi-

dend to its UK-based holding firm last year as profit levels at the Irish carrier continued to grow. €200m was paid in 2017, the first time the airline had paid a dividend since it was acquired by IAG in 2015 for €1.36bn.

RYANAIR launched its London Southend summer 2020 schedule, with 16 routes in total, including 3 new routes to Bergerac (3 pw), Girona & Marseille (both 2 pw) and 3 new summer routes to Bucharest (5 pw), Venice Treviso (4 pw) and Vilnius (3 pw), in all 16 routes, 850,000 passengers.

AVOLON

reported 2019 Q3 total revenue of US$654m and $161m in profit with an owned and managed fleet of 527 aircraft, with total orders and commitments for 387 new technology aircraft. It executed a total of 21 lease transactions comprising new aircraft leases, follow-on leases and lease extensions; it delivered 8 new aircraft to 5 customers and transitioned 4 aircraft to follow-on lessees. It sold 10 aircraft, 3 of which were managed assets, and also disposed of 1 additional managed aircraft attributable to an insured total loss. It serves 152 airlines in 61 countries.

FLY Leasing agreed to sell six aircraft

to Horizon Aircraft Finance III Limited and Horizon Aircraft Finance III LLC for approximately US$150.5. The aircraft in the Purchasers’ portfolio will be serviced and managed by affiliates of BBAM. Fly also purchased $3.1m, or 3pc, of the equity certificates issued by Horizon III Limited in connection with the transaction.

SIX WEST flight operations specialist plans to act as an intermediary for higher-risk leases, allowing lessors to place aircraft on its newly secured Maltese air operator’s certificate. Dublin-headquartered , it has another AOC in the Cayman Islands.

BOMBARDIER announced it has agreed to sell its Northern Ireland operations as part of a deal worth around $1.1bn. The deal with Spirit Aerosystems also includes Bombardier’s business in Casablanca, Morocco and its maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Dallas in the United States. In addition to $500m in cash, the purchase includes the assumption of liabilities valued at more than $700m. The aircraft manufacturer employs around 3,600 people in Northern Ireland and has owned the former Shorts factory in Belfast since 1989.

Dalton Phillips of Dublin airport

The 40c question

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Dublin airport does not get as much as it asks

he Commission for Aviation Regulation published its fifth Determination on the maximum level of Airport Charges at Dublin Airport.

The average price for the period 2020-2024 will be €7.87 (€7.50 in the first two years, increasing to €8.32 by the end of the period, plus CPI increases). This is an 11pc reduction to the 2019 price cap of €8.81.

This price cap will allow Dublin Airport collect €1.4bn from Airport Charges over the 5 years, and the CAR estimates a further €1.4bn from commercial revenues. It allows for up to €2.3bn in capital invest-

ment in the period. The CAR is fully supportive of all capital projects. If Dublin Airport does not proceed with certain proposed projects the price cap is reduced.

CAR has introduced new high-powered financial penalties to incentivise Dublin Airport to deliver its proposed capital investments, as planned and on time.

The Commission has decided that the average price will be €7.87 per passenger compared to €7.50 in its draft decision.

According to latest figures, Dublin Airport’s own submission adds up to an average €9.65 per passenger.

Major differences are: Cost of Capital: CAR carried out a detailed review of the cost of capital, and as part of this looked at what other regulated companies are allowed to earn. It decided that Dublin Airport should earn 4.22pc on investments while its latest request was for 5.8pc. This amounts to €0.43 per passenger.

Operating Costs: CAR thinks Dublin Airport can become more efficient and the difference between the money requested and the amount it decided to provide for is €0.49 per passenger.

Commercial Revenue: Dublin Air-

WALSH ‘NO THREAT” FROM JETBLUE TIE-IN

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illie Walsh says that he is not surprised by the Norwegian tie-in with Jetblue.

“I wasn’t surprised by the new links between JetBlue and Norwegian.

It’s very limited in terms

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of their interlining with Norwegian given the Norwegian network into North America.

“We have got a long-established and very successful and constructive relationship with JetBlue from

an Aer Lingus point of view. We know the team very well there, Robin and Steve, the CFO, Steve Priest, are both ex-BA people. So we know JetBlue very well, good business and clearly have ambitions.

Robin Hayes CEO of Jetblue

RYANAIR INVESTS IN SEVILLE

yanair is to open its first heavy maintenance centre in the city of Seville, one of the four locations that the company has in Europe for heavy maintenance

The hangar has two bays, which can repair two planes at the same time, and a floor space of 8,000 sq metres on a site of 10,500 sq metres.

The director of oper-

ations of Ryanair revealed that it plans to expand this hangar, building another similar one and one with only one bay for light repairs, so the bays go from 2 to 5 at the end of 2021.

All this will involve an additional investment of €16m and the creation of more than 265 additional jobs. In total, the airline is to invest €26m and create 465 jobs.

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 33

TRAVEL EXTRA GOLF DAY 2019 IRELAND'S PREMIER SOURCE OF TRAVEL INFORMATION

TIGS incoming captain Olwen McKinney of Amadeus, overall winner Clem Walshe of LocalMarketing.ie and Maureen Ledwith.

TIGS incoming captain Olwen McKinney of Amadeus, overall winner Helen Kelly of Platinum Travel and Maureen Ledwith.of Travel Extra

TIGS incoming captain Olwen McKinney of Amadeus, second place winner Dave Conlon of Travelport and Angela O’Rourke of Travel Extra

TIGS incoming captain Olwen McKinney of Amadeus, second place winner Loraine Cunningham and Angela O’Rourke of sponsors Travel Extra

TIGS incoming captain Olwen McKinney of Amadeus, third place winner Barry Walsh of Concorde/Joe Walsh Tours and Maria Sinnott

TIGS incoming captain Olwen McKinney of Amadeus, overall winners Clem Walshe of LocalMarketing.ie and Helen Kelly of Platinum Travel and Maureen Ledwith.of sponsors Travel Extra

Helen of triumph Sun shines for annual Travel Extra TIGS golf day

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elen Kelly of the Travel Broker with 35 points and Clem Walshe with 34 points were the winners of the final Travel Industry Golf Society event at the Castle golf club in Dublin.

The annual event, which coincides with the TIGS AGM, was sponsored by Travel Extra saw 38 golfers take to the course on a sunny day. It was the first time this season that the women outscored the men on the course.

Afterwards the AGM of TIGS was an opportunity to reflect on the year. Dermot Merrigan handed over to Olwen McKinney who is the TIGS captain for 2020. Marian Benton is the new vice captain. Bill Smith handed over the presidency to Con Horgan.

Previous winners gents: 2005 Tom Mulcahy, 2006 Jimmy Lennox 2007 Bruce Crehan, 2008-9 Jimmy Lennox, 2010 Con Horgan, 2011-2 Louis O’Toole, 2013 Mar-

tin Dempsey, 2014 Tom Coade, 2015 Gerry Headon, 2016 Volker Lorenz, 2018 Niall McDonnell, 2019 Clem Walshe.

Previous winners ladies: 2007 Eimear Farrell, 2008 Audrey Headon, 2009 Niamh Byrne 2010 Lorraine Cunningham,, 2011 Rachel Treanor, 2012 Ann Byrne, 2013 Mary Stillman, 2013 Tanya Airey, 2015 Emer Farrell, 2016 Tanya Airey, 2018 Ann Byrne, 2019 Helen Kelly.

TIGS incoming captain Olwen McKinney of Amadeus, third place winner Jacinta McGlynn of Travelbiz and Maria Sinnott of Travel Extra TIGS incoming captain Olwen McKinney of Amadeus, back nine winner Ann Byrne and Angela O’Rourke of sponsors Travel Extra

Incoming vice captain Marian Benton of Map Travel, incoming president Con Horgan and incoming captain Olwen McKinney of Amadeus,

Jim Tobin of FCM, front nine winner Audrey Headon of Headon Representation and Angela O’Rourke of Travel Extra

Refreshments on the ninth, Travel Industry Golf Society@the Castle, October 24 2019

TIGS incoming captain Olwen McKinney of Amadeus, back nine winner Joe Tully of Tully’s Travel and Maria Sinnott of Travel Extra

TIGS incoming captain Olwen McKinney of Amadeus, front nine winner Des Abbott of Des Abbott Travel and Maria Sinnott of Travel Extra/

TIGS incoming captain Olwen McKinney of Amadeus, back nine winner Ann Byrne and Angela O’Rourke of Travel Extra/

Evening compere Jim Tobin of FCM, Travel Industry Golf Society@the Castle,

Shane Hourican, Angela O’Rourke, Edmund Hourican, Maureen Ledwith, Eoghan Corry and Maria Sinnott,

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 34

GLOBAL VILLAGE

Inside the Travel Business

G

Adventures has appointed Tom Bell as director of sales for Ireland and Britain. Tom will join G Adventures on 21st October 2019, to drive the adventure travel company’s trade sales and engagement and will be supported by National Sales Manager, Stu Darnley, who was promoted into his role in October 2017.

AIR CANADA are upgrading their reservation system from RESIII to Amadeus Altéa this month. Air Canada flights will continue to operate as scheduled and airport services, including online and kiosk check-in for our customers will remain available.

TOBAGO Tourism Agency, represent5ed in Ireland by Clem Walshe hosted key travel agents media to publicised eco-tourism initiatives to promote Tobago’s green credentials and international appeal. n Tobago Tourism Greening Initiative focusing on the amalgamation of several initiatives aimed at environmental sustainability. n Phasing Out of Styrofoam Cups. n Introducing Green Key Programme n Blue Flag certification for clean, safe, environmentally responsible beaches, marinas and sustainable boat tour operators.

In Tobago, the process has started for two beaches working towards Blue Flag certification, Pigeon Point Heritage Park and Store Bay. This process will be on going for approximately three years.

POLAND VISA WAIVER

has been extended to Polish passport holders

by US immigration authorities. According to the last census there are 122,515, Polish nationals living in Ireland.

STUBA the brand formed from the mer-

ger of getabed and roomsXML are launching a board basis filter to complement filters including hotel chain, star rating, location, price and ‘best for. Agents will now be able to filter hotels according to board basis; breakfast to all-inclusive. Stuba says the ‘best for’ filter is particularly popular with agents as it includes over 20 lifestyle filters including romance, luxury, resort stay, foodies and shopping.

SKAL Nora Cronin and Margaret Cahill met with the Croatian delegation with regard to the twinning of the Skål Clubs of Rijeka and Galway, both celebrating European Capital of Culture in 2020.

CSO figures show Trips abroad from Ireland in Ireland were up 11.9pc to 973,600.

HURTIGRUTEN Danny Giles formerly of Hurtigruten, has moved to Silversea NEWBRIDGE TRAVEL Elaine O’Hagan has joined Newbridge Travel from Freedom Travel.

TOM GIBLIN of Failte Ireland, member of Skål International Dublin, has died.

EIMER HANNON, founder of

Hannon Travel has won the Matheson Women Mean Business Female Entrepreneur Award.

ERA

called for a revision of Code of Conduct for Computerised Reservation System.

Pat Dawson CEO of the ITAA, Susana Cardoso Director of Portuguese Tourism in Dublin and John Spollen of Cassidy Travel president of the ITAA announce the venue at the ITAA conference in Cordoba

Evora for ITAA

Portugal will host ITAA conference on Oct 16 2020

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vora in the Alentejo region of Portugal will host the next annual conference of the Irish travel Agents Association on October 16 2020.

The announcement was made at the gala dinner concluding the 2019 annual conference in Cordoba.

It is the third time that Portugal has hosted the annual conference after the Algarve in 1999 and Oporto in 2017. Ireland sends 350,000 tourists to Portugal, with most travelling to the Algarve and Alentejo considered the least visited region.

The conference traditionally hosts 130 delegates split 60/.40 between agents and suppliers.

ITAA CONFERENCE

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 2018 Philadelphia 2019 Cordoba

TRAVELPORT OPENS INSIDE CALLS CENTRE

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ravelport is to open an inside sales centre in Dublin. The sales centre will be supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland and will focus on growing Travelport’s small-tomedium-tier customer base across Europe.

Initial hiring will

target sales, account management and customer support, with 22 new positions expected to be created in the first year and further recruitment planned over the following two years.

Paul Broughton of Travelport, said: “the creation of an inside sales team comes on

the back of four years of strong results and development since we established our digital operations here. Our decision is also due to the availability of highly skilled people.”

Recruitment is underway for the new positions www.travelport. com/careers

Riona McGrath of Travelport

83 AGENCIES RENEW LICENSES

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he Commission of Aviation Regulation says travel agents have indicated a projected licensable turnover of €433m for the year ahead, down 2.3pc, based on applications received in

the November round, The projections for tour operators is €163m, up 3.1pc.

A total of 83 travel agents and 19 tour operators were licensed. licenses for Atlantic Sky Team Tours Limited

(TA0751), John Moran t/a EU Tours (TA0578) and PCE Coaches Ltd (TO269) had not been renewed at time of going to press.

The first round of licences is issued on the 1st May (the Spring round)

and the second round of licences are issued on the 1st November (the Autumn round). A licence is valid for a period of twelve months from date of issue.

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 35

Inside the Travel Business

GLOBAL VILLAGE THOMAS COOK brand has been

saved from obscurity after the Chinese owner of Club Med said it would buy the name for £11m. Fosun Tourism, which was seen a potential saviour of Thomas Cook before it went bust. It was the largest shareholder in Thomas Cook and had pledged to inject £450m into the company as part of a £900m rescue deal with bondholders and banks. However, the plan collapsed after banks demanded an extra £200m.

TRAVEL TRADE SHOW

Deirdre Sweeny, Jeanette Taylor and new Sunway CEO Mary Denton at the Travel Centres conference

All systems go

New CEO Mary Denton to bring Sunway forward

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ompleting the integration of Sunway’s back office system is the priority for new CEO Mary Denton who took over as CEO of the company on November 1, while Tanya Airey, daughter of co-founder Jim Furling, takes a back role as the company’s new Executive Chairman.

The system, which integrated scheduled, charter and low cost air fares, and moved from separate long haul and short haul databases, has been causing problems since it was implemented two years ago and

caused knock on effects in dealing with travel agents.

Sunway’s US product, on sale this month is one area of growth. Club Med is also growing. particularly its ski resorts.

Sunway, which reduced capacity in 2019, is to continue moving away from chartered aircraft to using scheduled services. “We changed because charters did not give us the same flexibility as scheduled services,” Mary says. key charter destinations that remain include Turkey, Salou and the Lapland product.

DEREK KEOGH’S GTI ACQUIRES MAP TRAVEL

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TI Travel has acquired the MAP Travel

brand.

MAP Travel was established in 1997 by Marian Benton and Patricia Kenny and specialises in group and escorted tours and pilgrimages.

Derek Keogh, Man-

aging Director of GTI Travel, said “I am delighted to have successfully acquired MAP Travel which is a profitable company and a great brand and I look forward to growing the business further in the future”.

Patricia Kenny of MAP Travel said ‘we

are pleased to have our business placed in the safe hands of Derek and his team whose sound business model and ethos is compatible with ours’.

GTI Travel is Ireland’s leading specialist in tailor-made tours for groups and high-quality escorted tours .

The tour operator’s traditional base in Agadir, however, has been disconnected by the decision of Air Arabia to discontinue its 2w service, without warning, on November 2. Sunway offers extremely cheap transfers from the Ryanair destination, Marrakesh to its Agadir hotel portfolio.

The tour operator is committed to dealing with the trade. At the recent Travel centres conference Mary engaged with agents outlining the advantages of dealing with a tour operator, including issues such as supplier failure.

A

hold an Irish licence.

The EU Package Travel Directive only requires Irish established to be licenced by the commission.

Three of these entities have put in place arrangements to allow them to continue to trade in Ire-

ADAMS & BUTLER Siobhan

Byrne Learat has been nominated for the 2019 Virtuoso Member Award: Most Engaged Agency - EMEA. Virtuoso will announce the winners during ILTM Cannes at the Virtuoso EMEA Member Lunch & Agency Management Meeting.

COMMISSION of Aviation regulation November licensing round report notes that MAP Travel, Global Teamwork, Matthews Coach Hire, Prime Marketing, Travel Choice Ltd, TUI Ireland, Affinion International Travel and Shannon Air Ground Handling no longer need or are required to have a licence/insolvency protection in place.

SKAL new Skal President elected at the world congress Peter Morrison from Christchurch, New Zealand, is considering visiting Dublin, where his daughter works and lives.

TRAVEL CENTRES

next conference will be taking place at the Heritage Hotel in Killenard, Co. Laois on November 13th & 14th, 2020

Patricia Kenny and Marian Benton who founded MPA travel in 1997

MORE TOUR OPS TAKE EU OPTION

ccording to the Commission of Aviation regulation, four entities, established outside of the European Union who were previously licenced by the Commission up to the 31st October 2019, no longer

Exhibitor registration is now open for the Irish Travel Trade Show which will take place in a new venue, The Hotel Riu Plaza The Gresham, on Thursday, 2nd April 2020. For the first time, Cork will host the ITAA’s Irish Travel Trade Show on Wednesday, 1st April 2020.

Both Shows will be open from 5.00pm to 7.30pm at a great value rate of €499 + VAT for the Cork Show and €799 + VAT for the Dublin Show. The package includes a table, chairs, power point, WiFi and free tickets to Exhibitors and Visitors for a Buffet Dinner and Networking Event. The ITAA will arrange transport for Exhibitors between the two venues and offer very competitive room rates in both Hotels. The ITAA AGM and Consortia meetings will take place before the Dublin Show opens.

land. These are: n Expedia Inc: evidence of insolvency protection insurance for sales in Ireland. n Travel Corporation Ireland evidence of insolvency protection insurance for sales in Ireland.

n Bravonext S.A. t/a Lastminute.com: All Irish sales from 1st November 2019 are being handled by their Spanish established entity Red Universal n Campingvision is now an accommodation only provider.

TRISTAR Skerries has ceased trading.

the closure was orderly and no customers were adversely affected.

AMADEUS Sean O’Kelly, formerly of Sabre, has joined Amadeus BOOKING.COM John McKibben formerly of Stuba has gone to Booking.com.

TRAVELPORT signed a new agreement with TAP Air Portugal in preparation for future NDC connections HISTORY Channel have announced

their partnership with the World Federation of Tourist Guide Association,

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 36

Last month in numbers

u1.1bn Value of combined business of Irish

travel trade

13.8m Number of passengers carried by Ryanair in October.

u225m Dividend paid back by Aer Lingus to its parent, IAG.

3m Number of passengers who passed through Dublin airport in October.

1,022,000 Number of passengers carried by Aer Lingus in October.

96pc Ryanair load factor in October u0.40 Difference between what DAA asked for in Dublin airport charges and what was granted.

44 Number of airlines operating at Dublin airport, down from 41 last winter.

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WINDOW SEAT

TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR

osita Boland asks in this collection of nine journeys from nine different moments in her life, why is it that a woman travelling alone, as she has often done for months at a time, is perceived to be “brave”, whereas men who travel alone are entirely unremarkable?

“You are only brave or courageous when you are afraid of something but still do it. I have never been afraid of travelling alone.”

There were things along the way that cause her deep fear. Most terrifying was an overloaded bus with bald tyres on mountain roads with sheer drops. Describing such a bus

Elsewhere by Rosita Boland is published by Penguin Ireland

trip in 1995 along a section of the Indus Highway in Pakistan, she writes, “the road began to take on the sensation of fiction, the bus appeared to be levitating in thin air, so narrow was the road, and so close were the wheels to its bare edge.”

“The landscape was almost savage in its nightmarish beauty. I was barely able to comprehend its vast, surreal scale. Outlandish, I thought.

Not of this world. “ Later in the same chapter she is stuck in a tiny village where no women appear in public, she waits

for an aircraft that is repeatedly delayed. Being by herself out in the world has never scared her.

She says the chief joy of travelling alone is the simple act of just doing it: crossing that invisible border in your head before you ever leave home, by deciding you want to see the world anyway, even if it means doing it by yourself.

“What’s the alternative if you don’t happen to have a partner at certain times in your life but still long to travel, as I do? Stay at home and never go anywhere?

Busman’s holiday: Maura Fahy Every month we ask a leading travel professional to write about their personal holiday experience. This month: Maura Fahy of Fahy Travel

M

y earliest memories of summer holidays are of the windswept beaches of Kerry.

We went seven years in a row and according to my mother it rained every year. I don’t remember the rain but my mother must have had her way and we finally ventured overseas. We did a house swap with our cousins in Geneva.

I have six brothers and one sister and we journeyed by car, three of us travelling in the boot of our station wagon facing out the back window and my younger brother on my mother’s lap in the front seat, suitcases strapped to the roof ! It was such an adventure, my mother had packed catering supplies of KP Peanuts and there were prizes

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for those who could stay quiet the longest. I couldn’t imagine doing it now.

I had just done my leaving cert when we flew out to the Algarve for a two week stay at the Torralta Apartments in Alvor. First time on an airplane and first time to have long sunny days. We were ushered into the shade after 20 minutes in the sun.

Now with a family of my own we try and combine beach with a bit of activity, we have done several camping holidays, there something for everyone. We managed a week on the Camino last year.

We had holidayed in Fisterra, previously meeting up with friends finishing the Camino and we all fell in love with the province of Galicia.

It is very much like home with its stone walls, fox gloves and Fuschia growing wild along the roadside. The walk up to the Lighthouse is amazing

Langosteira beach. Fisterra: end of the known world and you can imagine that you are at the ‘end of the world’ looking out over the Atlantic Ocean.

We took a ‘sunset Tour by boat to see one of the most spectacular sunsets and views of the Light house perched high above the sea. I hope to go back for a ‘special occasion’ and stay at the Hotel O Semaforo part of the Fisterre Lighthouse.

The town of Fisterra (Lands end in Galician) has a lovely stretch of beach with a boardwalk streaming with walkers on the las leg of their journey . Its primarily a fishing village with a very

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

he year ends for the travel industry, as it began with uncertainties old and new.

Boeing’s entire aircraft supply line has been halted. Airbus is experiencing delays, even by its own standards, which are disconcerting for customers.

The word from Europe is that the new EU Von der Leyen Commission will likely follow an anti-tourism agenda. Tourism was mentioned just once in her agenda.

The cry for higher aviation taxes is rising, while transport does not, as yet, have a commissioner as Rovana Plumb’s difficulties t home in Romania prevent her confirmation in the role.

As Michael O’Leary says: “it is easy to support green taxes in the Netherlands where you can use a train or a` bicycle. But places on the periphery, like Ireland, need air travel.”

The package holiday directive is

still as clear as mud, as Pat Dawson memorably declared, and insurance reform, the dominant issue `t the ITAA conference, seems as far away as ever.

Aramco’s flotation has done nothing to appease volatility in the fuel market. Britain still has not yet decided, as Brendan Grace might say, whether it is coming or going.

Somehow it is likely we will fondly look back on Brexit on a problem that was an old friend.

local feel despite the tourist shops and waterfront of restaurants overlooking the port.

Our first visit was in June and we were there for the Corpus Christi procession, I never saw anything like it, the locals spent the morning lining the streets with flower petals and ferns, making designs on manholes, all the shops along the route were decorated with flowers and Religious ornaments.

Quite a contrast to its Celtic history.

It is said that the Celtic Druids followed the Milky way to Fisterra, the end of the known world.

IN YOUR NEXT TRAVEL EXTRA: Available to Travel Agents or online January 13 2020

HOLIDAY WORLD EDITION Iran & other Destinations of 2020 HOME HOLIDAY TRENDS

JANUARY 2020 PAGE 37

MEETING PLACE

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JANUARY 2020 PAGE 38

MEETING PLACE

Out and about with the Travel Trade

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JANUARY 2020 PAGE 39

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