Postcards

POSTCARDS FROM THE TRAVEL SCENE

It was a hugely successful year for Celebrity Cruises who have collected 134 awards both globally and in Ireland.

Jo Rzymonska, MD of Ireland, Britain. and Asia said said Dublin Port, who had announced they would be solely focusing on cargo, were once again agreeing to look into propositions for the venture in the coming 24 months. Rzymonska highlighted the four fe

male captains now on board, women now forming 50pc of hotel directors positions and females 33pc of staff.

March 28th will see the delivery to Southampton of the second billion dollar plus Edge cruise ship, Celebrity Apex and $300m is being invested in bringing the fleet up to Edge standard at a cost of $70 - $90m per ship.

Jo Rzymowska is pictured with Valerie Murphy and Michael English.

Tony Lane reported a 10pc growth in travel to the US from Ireland. US pre-clearance here has helped increase these numbers as both Dublin and Shannon are the only airports in Europe to offer it..

Sunway’s Toni Birthistle scooped the top prize of an all expenses paid trip to Florida which includes Aer Lingus flights for 2, a 4 night stay at the luxurious Sonesta Suites, tickets to Universal

Studios, tickets to Sea World, car hire and dinner at the Kennedy Space Centre with an astronaut.

Not bad going for a girl who admits she “never wins anything! “

Picture shows Grant Daley of Universal Parks & Resorts, Mary Murphy of Visit Orlando, Michaela Grey of Sea World, Philip Britton from the Kennedy Space Centre and Tony Lane, Executive Director of Visit USA

The silk covered confines of The Great Room at The Shelbourne Hotel provided a fitting backdrop for the 96th anniversary of the emergence of Turkey as a republic.

Turkish ambassador, Levent Murhat Burhan, was on hand to meet and greet the extensive group of Turkish and Irish guests who filled the venue and listened to a poetic recital by Robyn Rowland from her books Under This Saffron Sun and The Intimate War.

Ambassador Burhan also spoke of Turkey’s special relationship with Ireland, which predates its status as a Republic, dating back to 1847 when the young ruling sultan was informed by his Irish doctor of the great famine ravaging our country. Picture shows Maureen Ledwith and Edmund Hourican pictured with Alper Sean Hackett and Onur Gull of Turkish Airways.

Key members of the travel trade and media were invited to Brand USA’s VIP Media event on Wednesday 4th March 2020.

There they were treated to a private viewing of the organisation’s latest promotional documentary, Into America’s Wild, which has just been rolled out. The documentary, narrated by Morgan Freeman among several others, is a visually stunning view of America’s

great outdoors and gives a truly exhilarating snapshot of all the nature, adventure and breathtaking beauty that awaits its tourists when they venture off the beaten track.

Picture shows Brand USA CEO and President, Chris L. Thompson, pitured with Tryphavana Cross of Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The IPW inbound USA event will be hosted by las Vegas in June.

The annual event for the travel trade hosted by the Star Alliance group of airlines saw some familar faces and some newcomers as the aliance presence grows with Dublin and Shannon airports.

Shannon airport sponsored the event, reminding trade guests of the long standing relationship with airlines such as Air Canada, United and Lufthansa. Martina Coogan of United chair of Star

Alliance Ireland, spoke at the event.

Picture shows Star Alliance Ireland representatives, Hasan Mutlu of Turkish Airlines, Irma Kennedy of Croatia Airlines, Lynda Betsch of Aegean, Jane Reeves of Star Alliance, Alan Sparling of ASM (at back), Blaithn O’Donnell of Air Canada (front), Martina Coogan of United chair of Star Alliance Ireland, Meseret Tekalign of Ethiopian Airlines and Ricardo Dinis of TAP Air,

The Association of Women Travel Executives pulled out all the stops on Friday December 6th with one of the jewels in the Crown of their annual calendar of events, the Christmas lunch.

This year’s eagerly anticipated gathering was held at Suesey Street restaurant where the dulcet tones of Sean Boland kept the white linen napkins waving in the air.

In the words of Clare Dunne: “For 2020 hold your head up high and talk about your industry with pride”.

Picture shows the Committee . Fiona Foster of Cassidy Travel, Maura Maloney of Dublin Airport, Clare Dunne of The Travel Broker, Dympna Crowley of Lee Travel, Teresa Murphy of Air France/KLM. Ffront row: Martina Coogan of United Airlines, Lorraine Quinn of Celebrity Cruises.

POSTCARDS FROM THE TRAVEL SCENE

Topflight launched their 2020 Italian brochure with the help of celebrity chef Catherine Fulvio at Ballyknocken House, Co Wicklow. . The event was part of Italian Food Week. Catherine is a great ambassador of Italian food and has published many books specialising in Italian cuisine. The event featured an Italian masterclass hosted by Catherine and attended by key members of the travel trade,

travel trade press and travel journalists. Guests included Italian ambassador, Serpi, his wife, deputy ambassador Donato Scioscioli and Ilenia Cocco of the Italian Tourist board ENIT.

This is a special year for ENIT as they celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the foundation of the organisation. Picture shows Maurice Shiels, Michelle Anderson, Catherine Fulvio and Shauna Kelly,

Red Carnation Hotels and The Travel Corporation’s Luxury Gold brand teamed up to arrange an exclusive dinner at L’Ecrivain to meet up with Sally Gray, General Sales Manager of the Red Carnation Hotel Collection South Africa

Highlighting The Travel Corporation’s ongoing commitment to sustainability, the company’s country manager for Ireland, Sharon Jordan, revealed that

thanks to TTC’s policy of e-ticketing and the planting of one tree per issue of each online ticket, over 700,000 trees have been planted in the past year from business across their 42 brands. Guests were also invited to hang on to their menus, which were printed on seeded paper, so they could bring them home and plant them and wait for the surprise! Brian Hynes of The Travel Corporation is ictured with Sally Gray.

The Atlantic Joint Venture partners hosted key travel trade at the Alex Hotel in Dublin. AJV consists of seven airlines United, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings and cover 600 destinations with over 10,000 daily flights carrying 20m passengers each year.

In her update on the night, United Airline’s country sales manager for Ireland, Martina Coogan, announced that from June 6th United will be flying from Dublin to San Francisco - the route will be flown using the Dreamliner 787 aircraft and will include Polaris Business Class. Picture shows Helen Fyfe of the Lufthansa Group, Blaithin O’Donnell of Air Canada, Clareanna Phillips of United Airlines and Martina Coogan of United Airlines waiting to surprise attendees with flights after the table quiz

In 2018 68,742 Irish visited Thailand and from January to September of this year that figure stands at 51,685 - so we’re looking at a 1.48pc increase. Spend is up 3pc.

Key travel agents were able to swap their scarves, jackets and umbrellas for Thai massage, cocktails, giant inflatable kangaroos and an evening dedicated to destinations in the Asia Pacific region at 4 Dame Lane as Tourism Thailand,

Qantas, Fiji, Bangkok, China Airways and Australian Tourism among others rolled into Dublin with the PATA Roadshow. “We’re really happy with how the Irish Market is performing” Chris Lee, Tourism Thailand’s Head of Marketing for Ireland and the UK, told Travel Extra.Picture shows Andrew Hall of Qantas Air, Maureen Ledwith of Holiday World and Chris Lee, Head of Marketing for Tourism Thailand

The first Cruise Lines International Association Ireland Conference attracted 130 delegates and suppliers to Moran’s Red Cow on Dublin’s Naas Road.

It was the most comprehensive event on cruise in Ireland. Morning presentations were followed by a panel discussion where major cruise lines were each asked to pick an aspect of cruise sales that they would recommend to travel

agents to help boost their cruise sales. Picture shows panel discussion with Jennifer Callister of Royal Caribbean, Rebecca Kelly of Princess Cruises and Suzanne Rowe of MSC with moderator Andy Harmer of CLIA.

Cruise from Ireland has only now recovered to pre recession levels, In 2018 48,300 cruises were taken by Irish passengers, up 8.3pc for the second successive year.

The Jonathan Swift private dining room at Dublin’s Ivy restaurant was the setting for a very laid back event courtesy of the Tourism Office of Illinois.

Key members of the travel trade and media were invited to hear all about the diverse tourism regions the state has to offer with representatives present from Choose Chicago, Dupage, The Heritage Corridor, Visit Springfield, Great Rivers

& Routes and Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Chicago is also set to be one of the in demand destinations for the year ahead as it spends 12 months celebrating the music it is famed for. Picture shows Jill Maguire of American Sky pictured with Miriam Blumenthal of Dupage Convention & Visitors Bureau, Kate Meehan of The Heritage Corridor and Mairead Keegan of Click & Go