Travel Extra November 2019

RYANAIR: NEW FOR 2020 JO’BURG: SAFER THAN EXPECTED CRUISE: WHO SAILS WHERE Awards new sponsor

Max gets messier

S African options

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NOVEMBER 2019

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NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 3

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NEWS

Kashmir reopens

A

Authorities let tourists back into area after clampdown

uthorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir will allow tourists back into the region.

The news comes two months after ordering them to leave because of security concerns amid an Indian crackdown.

Tourists are unlikely to experience normal life in the disputed area or be able to use mobile internet or cellphones, which remain cut.

Local government spokesman Rohit Kansal said the decision was made after a review of the situation.

He said security restrictions “have now been withdrawn almost entirely from all parts of the newly divided provinces of Jammu and Kashmir.”.

He said the restrictions on the entry of tourists will be lifted

BILLUND 2w from Dublin with Ryanair from October

SPAIN Irish visits to Spain are up 7.5pc

New Zealand joins the electronic authorisation game

LISBON TAP launched Dublin double daily, opening S America.

NICE: Aer Lingus from Cork resumed May 1.

LOURDES Ryanair 2w will

PALANGA

Westjet.

MALTA Ryanair service form Cork to Europe’s wedding capital.

PODGORICA

American will link Dublin daily to Texas next year.

2w resumed Ryanair route.

Dublin.

CALGARY Dublin from DALLAS

DUBROVNIK from Cork.

Aer Lingus

see prices plunge on route.

MARRAKESH: Dublin

MARSEILLES 5w from Dublin with Ryanair next summer

HALIFAX Westjet move their MINNEAPOLIS Aer St John’s service since April.

KATOWICE 3w from Cork with Ryanair from October

KIEV Dublin 2w seasonal with Ryanair since summer.

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.

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.

DESTINATIONS TO WATCH

AALBORG one of two new Danish destinations from Dublin.

SPAIN’s Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto

Lingus 2019 destination.

MONTREAL:

Aer Lingus destination postponed from 2019.

MOSCOW: Pobedoa are listing a Sheremetyevo service.

3w from Dublin with Ryanair next summer

2w from Dublin with Ryanair next summer

SPLIT: Ryanair June 1 from

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.

ALL INCLUSIVE IS SO MUCH MORE THAN FOOD AND DRINK It’s the waiter who remembers your name, as well as your order. It’s the West-End on the high seas, and it’s date night, every night.

Marella Cruises. Sail with a smile.

Marella Cruises is a trading name of TUI Ireland Limited, a member of the TUI AG group of companies. TUI is a trading name of TUI Ireland Limited and is fully licensed and bonded by CAR T.O.021.

NOVEMBER 2019 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

www.travelextra.ie

3 News Where to go,h ow much to pay 6 Postcards: Fam trips and more 10 Cruise: Ireland up 20pc

12 Just back from: Crown Princess 16 Johannesburg: How dangerous 17 S Africa: Special feature 25 Afloat: Awaiting Sky Princess

28-32 Flying: Ryanair cuts growth 34 Global Village Royal honours agents 36 Window seat: Our columnists 37 Pictures: Out and about

Selling a cruise break

C

ruise companies have gone into overdrive to educate travel organisers about the merits of their various cruise brands and what they can offer to suit each individual.

So how do you translate that into sales?

BUDGET It is all about budget. This needs to be established at the very beginning of the conversation along with finding out their expectations of the trip. Spend time on expectations before you offer advice.

If in doubt, sell from the top down. Customers will soon tell you if that is not in their budget.

DETERMINE

the client’s requirements.

If the destination the most important criteria a larger ship may not be able to navigate the likes of the fjords in Norway, missing the best parts of the itinerary and destination. Some ocean going vessels are small enough to navigate rivers like the Fred Olsen Braemar (which has a selection of river cruises in 2015, offering the best of both worlds).

EMPHASISE.

value and price. Show just how much prices of traditional cruises are dropping, the perday cost all inclusive works out at u50 on some Caribbean cruises.

Check the price of a land based all inclusive or full board week holiday and then price a cruise.

CHANGE their perceptions that cruising is for older travellers, that you spend all your time on the ship, that

lines, commission goes back to the agent if the next cruise is booked on board.

LINK consecutive

cruises: tag one cruise onto another to see more especially in Asia.

Winter options now include the Middle east sea-sickness is an issue, and most of all that cruising is expensive.

When people often say that cruising wouldn’t interest them as they don’t spend long in a port, a good selling tip is that it’s a great way to find out where you want to go back to,

LUXURY Sell

the dream. Point out all the luxury options for special occasions such as anniversaries. On all of the newer ships in the past 10-15 years, there is no such thing as steerage. All staterooms are well above water, and have all the mod cons of 4 and 5 star hotels. The proportion of rooms with balconies is rising.

DRINKS packages are all the rage.ackages are all the rage. The top end ships include drinks in their all inclusive prices but most lines do pre-paid packages.

Fred Olsen offer drinks package at €18 per day which includes beers,

house wines and spirits and 50pc discount on a la carte wines and premium brands, including some brands the Irish would consider top brand are included. .

MSC’s Allegrissimo is cheapest of the big ship brands at €26pp per day (5pc commissionable to the agent) allowing unlimited beer, wine, cocktails, spirits, ice cream, tea coffees etc.

REPEAT Keep

customers up to date with new facilities, new ships, new routes, and direct pick ups from Ireland. Establish an ongoing relationship.

Encourage your customers to discuss their next cruise with the ‘future cruise consultant’ on board there are lots of extras and you can come back to your travel professional to discuss adding on flights /hotels and tours afterwards.

Loyalty cards entitle the client to 5pc off the next cruise booked with Travel Agent. With most

FOOD Culinary standards on board continue to exceed expectations. While cruises are know for their food, some clients can be very fussy eaters with unusual dietary requirements, cruising can remove all the hassle of finding somewhere to dine every day, while still offering great food.

Healthy food options are becoming more and more apart of the cruise lines fare. There are speciality restaurants on the bigger ships and some cruise lines are seeking Michelin stars for the chefs..

ONBOARD accommodation is all mod cons with lots of options up to the suites with hot tubs, pianos etc CHILDREN

Point out how child friendly many cruiselines are with kids clubs, facilities, babysitting, menus, dedicated pool areas, and Dreamworks characters. Some cruise lines offer allow 18 year olds cruise for free.

FEARS about sea

sickness can be assuaged by telling them modern ships are well stabilised but if you are concerned choose a big ship and a cabin on a lower deck in the centre of the ship.

You can reassure them that safety onboard is of the highest standard, you are surrounded by like

minded people, it is ideal for teenagers.

TIPPING

most cruise companies now allow you to pre book gratuities or include them in prices. Be sure to tell clients about these so no surprises at end of week if they haven’t pre paid.

DUTY FREE

Point out the duty free shopping available onboard many ships.

SHORE Cruises try to allow passengers as much time ashore as possible, sailing at night and waking up in a new port. Many cruise lines are offering more overnights in destinations which is a great way to see many beautiful cities at night with the cruise ship acting as your hotel.

Warn that the cruise company’s own shore excursions can be expensive (although many cruise lines are offering these as commissionable extras) and that they can explore on their own.

SUGGEST

unusual destinations. The big cruise lines are going to Asia, Africa and Australia. Try Hurtigruten for Antarctica and Star Cruises for Asia.

SWITCH SELL:

Agents don’t get many clients walking through the door with a cruise brochure so they have to try to switch-sell.

SINGLES

Cruises are ideal for single travellers with some cruise companies newer ships offering dedicated single cabins and lounge areas so single passengers can mingle

New Dates and New Venue

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 6

POSTCARDS FROM THE TRAVEL SCENE

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he newly renamed (single word) Lauda came up with the most unusual launch for the 2020 season.

They will operate a Knock-Majorca 2w (Tuesday and Friday) seasonal service commencing March 31 next using a Palma based Lauda A320 with 174 seats.

Austrian based Lauda is a 100%owned subsidiary of Ryanair and follows the airline’s decision to drop three

N

o better women than the Etihad sales team to don the wellies and head for Carlow for the National Ploughing Championship.

Etihad have been sponsoring the event for three years. Judges on the panel include Shannon O’Dowd, Karen Maloney, Celia Holman Lee and Elaine Butler Doolin. The prize worth over €7,000 included 2 return economy flights Dublin to Abu Dhabi, two nights

U

nited hosted a group from Travel centres agencies on a fam to Baltimore, Annapolis and Washington DC. Highlights of the trip included a Washington nationals game and the naval academy at Annapolis with its taste of trans-Atlantic history.

Picture shows the group in 51st and Green trans Atlantic lounge at Dublin airport, Sean Healy of Lee Travel, Mi-

routes form the airline under the Ryanair moniker. lauda currently flies to 38 destinations across Europe and has two aircraft based in Palma. The summer 2020 schedule will see the Lauda fleet grow to 33 aircraft at 4 bases in Vienna, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf and Palma. Prices on the route start from €20.

Picture shows travel agents Cormac Meehan and Frances Grogan with Andrea Gruber, CEO of Lauda

accommodation each in the luxury 5 Star Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi, and the 5 Star Anantara Eastern Mangroves, complimentary park passes for Yas Island with entry into Yas Waterworld, Ferrari World and the new Warner Bros theme park.

Picture shows Karen Maloney of Etihad with NPA managing director Anna May McHugh and competition winner Liz Farrell from Carlow.

chael Bowe of Michael Bowe Travel, Gillian Purser of Marble City Travel, Nicola Churchill of Best4travel, Andrew Lynch of Travel Advisors, Orla Kelly of Clickandgo, Dominic Burke of Travel Centres, Maura Maloney of Dublin Airport, Martina Coogan of United Airlines, Jacinta Manto of Harvey Travel, Darren Yeates of MIdland Travel and Carolyn Davis of Liberty Travel,

F

orrest Gump and his box of chocolates are not the only things that the old world charming city of Savannah,Georgia is famous for.

Dublin’s Alex Hotel was the setting for the Visit Savannah lunch on Monday September 9th where key members of the travel trade and media were treated to some of the city’s finest hospitality and a fascinating history lesson extolling Ireland’s strong bond with the

O

ddly enough the dark rain clouds soaking Dublin since yesterday offered the perfect opportunity for the Taste of Barbados crew to swoop into Dublin.

With Ireland and Britain visitor numbers up 8.5pc on last year and Barbados shaping up for its eagerly anticipated Gathering’ event in 2020 - the island’s strong Irish connection was being exploited to its full potential.

T

urkish Airlines hosted a group of agents on an action packed tour of Cape Town and environs.

The trip included Table Mountain, a helicopter tour over Cape Town, whale watching in Gaansbai, a tour of Lanzerac, wine tasting in creation and other wineries, and the innovative Grootbos lodge where 25pc of the food served at the restaurant is grown at the attached farm and agriculture school which was

American destination via the Dunbrody Famine Ship.

Earlier this week Joseph Marinelli and his Visit Savannah team were in New Ross for the official ribbon cutting of the Savannah Landing Point and the Dunbrody Famine Ship Experience which now boasts a reconstruction of the quayside in Savannah, Georgia, where the Dunbrody Famine Ship would have landed.

Barbados Minister for Tourism & Transport, Kerri Symmonds, heaped praise on Dermot Desmond and JP McManus for their ongoing investment in the island, both in the 5 star “unparallelled” Sandy Lane Hotel and the island’s horse racing business. He then announced that Rhianna’s great aunt is living in the island’s Irish quarter and the singer is herself a descendant of our shores.

opened by Kader Asmal when he was a minister in the South African government, having returned from his role as ANC representative in Dublin.

Niamh Cullinane of Barter Travel, Caitriona Duffy of Cassidy Travel, Orlagh O’Hea of Travel Focus, Sherwin Arends of South Africa Tourism, Corrie Hewston of Club Travel, Martina Hayden of Travel Counsellors and Alper Kanburoglu of Turkish Airlines,

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 7

POSTCARDS FROM THE TRAVEL SCENE

T

ravel partners Group latest roadshow saw the suppliers bring their combined marketing powers to the newly refurbished Imperial Hotel in the centre of Dundalk .

Winner of the usual Table Quiz with a mixture of product related and fun questions was Karen Leonard from KT, followed the brief presentations from each of the TPG members The evening finished off with a €1,000 giveaway.

T

he opening of Beijing Daxing, Beijing’s new airport will change the dynamic of flying from Ireland to China, Nick Newman of China Southern said in a talk with key travel trade in Dublin.

China Southern commence 14 routes form Daxing on October 27. Despite the withdrawal of Hainan and Cathay pacific from the market, at least for the winter, he said there is no prospect

T

ourism Ireland won the destination award at the World Routes conference in Adelaide.

The annual event saw a3,000 top-ranking delegates from 130 countries participating in 11,000 meetings.

Commenting on the award, Louise Finnegan, Tourism Ireland’s Head of Business Partnership, said: “Our teams work closely with all of aviation partners providing insights and data,

The Travel Partners Group Facebook now has 650 members and agents are encouraged to join to keep up to date with the Group’s activities.

Picture shows Dermot Merrigan of Irish Ferries, Niall McDonnell of Classic Collection and Alan Lynch of Cruiseescapes/Travelescapes, with Karen Leonard, Karen Reel, Michelle Morgan and Karen Thornton of KT Travel at Travel Partners roadshow.

of direct flights from Ireland by china Southern as they move form a single hub (Guangzhou) to a two-hub strategy.

Currently most of China Southern’s Irish business travels thorough Amsterdam and Paris with their partners Air France/KLM and they are working with BA to open another Chinese gateway form Ireland through Heathrow. China Southern are receiving 80 new aircraft a year and operate 450 routes.

co-operative campaigns and access to marketing channels. As an island, the importance of frequent, non-stop flights cannot be overstated.”

Routes returns to Milan, for the 26th annual world route development forum will be hosted by SEA Milan Airports from September 5-8 2020.

Picture shows Steven Small of Routes presenting Sofia Hansson of Tourism Ireland, with the award

T

he India Tourism Roadshow in Dublin saw key suppliers meet up with local agents and tour operators.

Guests enjoyed a welcome drink and canapés on arrival before oneto-one meetings with Indiatourism’s partners, who included Sanyog Gupta Voyages, Tourism India Management Enterprises, Popular India Vacations, Vermigo Travel India, Atithi Voyages,

H

ouse on Leeson was the setting for the launch of Canariaways where key travel trade and media were shown a totally different style of holiday in the Canary Islands.

Swapping the poolside for a sturdy pair of hiking boots guests were shown a walker’s paradise and the slow paced joys of hiking and walking in the spectacular scenery of Gran Canaria, Tenerife and La Gomera.

A

t the Thailand and Etihad event in Dublin, Barry Hammond of Sunway Travel scooped the top prize on the night of two return tickets to Bangkok and six nights accommodation.

Red Torch Ginger on Dublin’s Andrew Street was the setting for a very special celebration of all things Thai.

Thai cuisine coupled with a full update on their Thailand success story which

Travel Planet, Aura Voyages; Glimpses Holidays, Lotus Trans Travel and Welcome Travels.

Agents watched a cultural dance performance and a taste of India and had the opportunity to enter a competition to win a trip to India.

Picture shows Leah Parmeshwar, Fatima Rivas and Nadya Byrne with Kami Singh of Popular India Vacations at the event.

With 600,000 Irish holidaymakers already flocking to the sun destination on a yearly basis, this Camino inspired walking holiday is one which looks set to attract a more exploratory visitor.

Travel Extra’s Aileen C. O’Reilly was thrilled to scoop the top prize on the night of a 4 day trip for two to the Canaries, hiking boots not included. Picture shows Volker Lorenz, Roland Mosegu and Rodrigo Paolicchi of Canariaways.

is seeing 65,000 Irish tourists choosing the visually stunning country for their holidays each year.

Other updates included the forthcoming opening of the new state of the art Midfield Terminal in Abu Dhabi, Barry is pictured here collecting his enviable prize with Shannon O’Dowd of Etihad, Chiravadee Khunsub Director of Tourism Thailand and Karen Maloney of Etihad.

to Britain

Hotel

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 10

CRUISE 2020

I

rish holiday makers took 20pc more cruises between January and June in 2019, up to 24,000 from 20,000.

Total figures for this year will be announced next spring.

CLIA’s new Irish Travel Agent Advisory Council says the key summer travelling period has shown strong demand from cruise guests, indicates that 2019 will be the strongest year yet for the Irish cruise sector.

Chaired by Dominic of Travel centres, the committee aims to explore ways to grow the Irish cruise market, with a particular focus on new to cruise customers.

Alongside chair Dominic Burke, members of the group include Polly Bond (Tour America), Caroline O’Toole (Fahy Travel), Caro Anne O’Neill (Worldchoice), Mairead Keegan (ClicknGo), Deirdre Sweeny (Sunway), David O’Grady (E-Travel), Alan Lynch (Cruise Escapes), Astrid Bell (American Holidays), Clare Dunne (The Travel Broker), Emma McHugh (Atlantic Travel).

CLIA’s first Irish conference has 94 pre-registered delegates.

The 2020 Conference will Looking to the Avia stadium from on board Celebrity reflection take place at the end of September tween zero “Ireland relies a lot on airlift tell people that cruises are Around 22,000 Irish holiday IRISH AFLOAT or early October, and 39 years to reach tis cruise embarkation amazing. makers chose the Mediterand the Irish group 2011 41,780 -3.2pc were the points,” Andy Harmer says. “It Andy Harmer, CLIA Ireland ranean as their itinerary with are also planning a 2012 40,114 -3.9pc highest ever is amazing that the Irish aver- director, said: “CLIA will be Barcelona the favourite port new to Cruise class- 2013 35,440 -11.6pc recorded last age age is so much younger hosting its first-ever Ireland of embarkation. Palma and room training event 2014 31,523 -11pc year. than Britain. It is a very differ- Cruise Conference exclusively Malaga were favoured pick up and a luxury Cruise 2015 35,972 +14.1pc Caribbean ent market and relies on word for Irish travel agents, and points until recent years when event during the 2016 41,200 +14.5pc (43 years) of mouth to spread the cruise we are working with cruise the main cruise lines changed year. Cruise from 2017 44,600 +8.3pc and Medi- news.” lines to offer ship visits for their schedules.

Ireland has only now 2018 48,300 +8.3pc terranean Andy Harmer of the Cruise the Irish trade market. These Changes for 2020 include recovered to pre re(47 years) Line Industry Association says CLIA events, along with the the fact that Independence of cession levels, with attracted the one of the things we have had newly created Irish Travel The Seas is no longer sailing 48,300 cruises were taken by youngest age demographic, in Ireland as you grow the Agent Advisory Council, will from Southampton in 2020.

Irish passengers in 2018, up “likely due to being popular number of people who take a help to ensure the Irish cruise Celebrity Apex will debut 8.3pc for the second succes- destinations for families,” ac- cruise, they tell their friends sector continues to grow expo- with a mini season sailing from sive year. cording to Andy Harmer of and family. They automatically nentially.”

Southampton before spending Industry figures from the CLIA. pre-CLIA days were not offiThe Mediterranean make up HOMEPORTS 2020 cially collated and are disputed 45pc of cruises sold (Western Star - Southampton by cruise lines.

Med 37pc, Eastern Med 8pc), NORWEGIAN ROYAL Dawn - Barcelona Last year followed by Caribbean (24pc) Epic - Barcelona Allure – Barcelona Escape - Southampton The average age remained and Northern Europe (10pc).

Star - Venice Anthem – Southampton Spirit - Southampton consistent at 48 years, slightly Harmer says “As more cruise Jade - Rome Explorer – Rome Star - Lisbon below the average age for Eur- lines homeport ships in Dublin Epic - Rome Rhapsody - Venice ope cruise passengers.

– this year Celebrity Cruises Escape - Copenhagen Jewel – Barcelona, Rome, PRINCESS Irish passengers aged be- and Princess Cruises both have Dawn - Venice Copenhagen & Stockholm Crown Princess - Southampships sailing Getaway - Rome Vision – Barcelona ton round trip WHERE WE CRUISE Jade - Amsterdam Brilliance - Amsterdam Island Princess - Southampfrom the city Jade - Barcelona

2016 2017 2018 ton CELEBRITY Jade - Athens Western Med 17,000 19,000 18,000 cruise around Regal Princess - Southampton Edge - Barcelona and Rome Europe has Jade Dubai Caribbean 10,000 10,000 12,000 Sky Princess - Copenhagen Silhouette - Southampton never been Spirit - Rome N Europe 3,000 3,000 5,000 Enchanted Princess BarceInfinity - Lisbon easier.

Escape - Rome Eastern Med 5,000 4,000 4,000 lona, Rome and Athens Reflection - Dublin

Port and starboard A toe in the water for cruise 2020

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 11

CRUISE 2020 PRINCESS WILL END ITS DUBLIN PORT PICK-UPS

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rincess Cruises is to end direct boarding at Dublin from season 2021.

The move is a huge disappointment after the decision of first celebrity, then princess to bring direct sailings to Dublin with a third major cruise line also engaged in talks before Dublin port declared that it was putting a cap on cruise ship calls at the port.

Tony Roberts of Princess said that the cruise line were disappointed to have to withdraw the facility as the ship had been joined by many American guests. He Passengers boarding a bus in Dublin port from the Crown Princess said Crown Princess and European season of which will be based land Princess, Crown her sister ships would for 2021 sees the lar- in Southampton, Grand Princess and Regal continue to call at Dub- gest-ever number of Princess, Island Princess Princess in Southamplin but the irregularity of cruise ships in Europe in and Crown Princess. ton throughout summer calls made embarkation 2020, five vessels. three Princess will base Is- 2020, offering 1.4m difficult to manage.

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Princess Cruises vice president Europe, Tony Roberts, said: “Europe continues to go from strength to strength as the destination of choice for English guests and we are thrilled to be able to offer our longest season in history. We will offer more choice than ever before, with English guests able to take advantage of a huge range of fantastic destinations sailing from right on their doorstep.

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NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 12

Just back from:

REPORT

Travel writer Patrick Keenan, Rachel Vane, Princess Cruises UK Public Relations Executive, travel writer Marcus Adams, and Emily Eastma, Cruise Advisor.

Crown Princess from the air

La belle medallion

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Aileen C O’Reilly tests the Princess medallion

e joined the ship on a balmy Tuesday to experience the joys of Medallion class - the latest delivery from Princess Cruises - App enabled cruising onboard Crown Princess as she sailed to Guernsey, Cobh, Dublin and on to Liverpool.

After a seamless boarding experience which took less than five minutes we set sail from Southampton with a full complement of passengers (3,000) spread over 19 decks - all of us armed with our Medallions and anticipating the latest experience in stress free personalised cruising.

The wireless activated innocuous little device certainly didn’t disappoint.

The discreet “medallion” shaped device - which can be worn as a bracelet, watch or pendant or can also easily clip onto your clothes - not only automatically opens your stateroom door as you approach but allows you to order food and drinks to wherever you are on the ship plus it is automatically used when you purchase anything in the onboard boutiques.

Activating the Medallion app in advance of your cruise is where the technology really comes into its own as it allows you to plan your full itinerary of excursions as well as onboard activities, spa treatments, shows and restaurant reservations well in ad-

vance of boarding - your personalised trip schedule can then be checked on your phone or at any of the large Medallion screens dotted plentifully around the ship.

It’s also fully waterproof so you can wear it in the pool or Jacuzzi, Obviously personal preferences in terms of food and drink can also be input but more importantly - details of specific allergies, medical conditions and any other necessary information can also be added.

Large interactive screens situated at every elevator show you exactly where you are on board, when and where your next scheduled activity is taking place, where your friends and

family members (your “shipmates”) are as well as your quickest route to join them.... or not!

By the end of 2020 it is expected that 12 of the fleet’s 18 ships will be Ocean Medallion activated. Meanwhile there are a further 5 Princess ships on order including Sky Princess, Enchanted Princess, Grand Princess and Island Princess - all of which will be Medallion operated as standard.

One of the Medallion’s most immediate and obvious benefits, apart from expediting the tiresome boarding process, is its onboard navigation features which ensure you needn’t spend those precious first few cruising days desperately trying to find your way around.

Crown Princess medallion in action

Rebecca Kelly on board Crown Princess

Dana Ionescu, General Hotel Manager, Crown Princess, Rachel Vane, PR Executive Princess Cruises UK and Entertainment Director Duke Christopher all pictured onboard Crown Princess

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“You relax, we move the scenery” Date

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Duration

20-December 2019

Cobh

Christmas & New Year Canaries & Madeira (Marco Polo)

16 nights

5-January 2020

Cobh

Grand Africa & Indian Ocean Voyage (Marco Polo)

78 nights

23-March 2020

Cobh

Azores, Madeira & Portuguese Highlights (Marco Polo)

14 nights

6-April 2020

Cobh

Easter River Seine Experience (Marco Polo)

7 nights

13-April 2020

Cobh

Treasures of the British Isles (Marco Polo)

11 nights

24-April 2020

Cobh

Portugal & Seville Fiesta (Marco Polo)

13 nights

24-June 2020

Belfast

River Seine Experience

8 nights

2-July 2020

Belfast

Fjordland Splendour

9 nights

11-July 2020

Belfast

Weekend Mini Cruise

2 nights

13-July 2020

Dublin

Round Britain & River Seine Experience

11 nights

24-July 2020

Dublin

Iceland and Faroes

12 nights

5-August 2020

Dublin

Spain, Portugal & Morocco

12 nights

17-August 2020

Dublin

Summertime Fjordland

10 nights

27-August 2020

Dublin

River Seine Experience

7 nights

3-September 2020

Dublin

Overnight Mini Cruise

1 nights

3-September 2020

Dublin

British Isles Discovery

10 nights

13-September 2020

Belfast

Mini Cruise to Bristol

3 nights

16-September 2020

Ringaskiddy

River Seine Experience

6 nights

22-September 2020

Ringaskiddy

Hidden Baltic Treasures

14 nights

6-October 2020

Cobh

Grand Canary Islands & Madeira, Iberian Treasures & Morocco

16 nights

22-October 2020

Cobh

Iceland & Land of the Northern Lights

9 nights

For a brochure call JMG Travel or contact your local travel agent JMG Travel, Gortahork, Co. Donegal • Tel: 074 91 35201 www.jmgcruise.com 109735 JMG Travel - TRAVEL EXTRA Full Page.indd 1

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

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AT THE HOLIDAY WORLD SHOW! ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Le Bois de Valmarie Camping Le Pin Parasol Camping ***** Leitrim Tourism Les Castels Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council Lithuania Longford Tourism Loughree Distillery Louisiana Office of Tourism Lusitania Museum and Siganl House Maine Office of Tourism Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board Maldron Hotel Belfast Maldron Hotels & Partners Malta Tourism Authority Maryland Office of Tourism Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism Mayo The Adventure Capital McKeever Hotels Michael Collins House Mid & East Antrim Borough Council Mid Ulster District Council Mississippi Tourism Model Railway Village West Cork Montana Tourism Montenotte Hotel Moorings Moroccan National Tourist Office Mount Wolseley Hotel Spa & Golf Resort Mourne Mountains & Ring of Gullion MSC Cruises Murcia Property Services Murcia Vacations Mysteries of India NAR UK New Nation Travel & Tours Nire Valley County Waterford

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South Dakota Department of Tourism South Dublin County Council Spanish Tourism Office Spanish Tourism Office Spike Island Spring Hotels Stena Line Strokestown Park House Gardens & Famine Museum Sundowners Overland Sunelia Vacances Sunsail Sunway Travel Take on Nepal Tennessee Tourism The Bridge House Hotel & Leisure Club The Countryside of Philadelphia The Earth Trip The Flying Golfer The Great American West The Inn At Dromoland The River Lee Hotel The Royal Mint The Talbot Collection THIS IS CAVAN Tour America Tour Buffalo Tourism Authority of Thailand Tourism Northern Ireland Tourism Nova Scotia Trabolgan Holiday Village Trailfinders Tralee Chamber Alliance Travel House of America Travel Oregon Travel Texas Travel Trade Tickets and Tours Trident Hotel Kinsale

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09/10/2019 13:11

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 16

DESTINATION SOUTH AFRICA

J

ohannesburg and its reputation, how dangerous? Around the “It is not safe to travel in Johannesburg independently,” one travel agent information site warns. Others called it “dangerous” and “a city of crime and contrasts.”

Noisy fruit-sellers and minibus drivers seeking custom, “but can also put a knot of fear in your stomach” says a respected journal.

“I was shot in Jo’burg,” says the photo booth gift tee-short in Maboneng arts district in Johannesburg they make fun of the city’s dark reputation.

Jo Buitendach of Past Experiences Tours brought us through the former no-go areas like a painter showing off her new paint job.

There were paint jobs everywhere, street art or, as it used to be known, graffiti, “not commissioned but legal,” Jo says.

There are clusters around pieces by Tapz, the most famous graffiti artist in Johannesburg.

Other local artists impressing the new audience include Bias, Mars/ Moris, Fallon and Mr Slippers.

Their work should be interpreted liberally rather than literally. “You could see this as an angry door or a piece of fabric,” Jo ponders, finger on chin knowledgeably.

A trained archaeologist she started running history and architecture tours but found that tourists

Nkululeko Mahlangu with street art, graffiti in the bohemian Maboneng district of Johannesburg

In the Lion’s den

were fascinated by the subcultures of a city regarded as one of the most dangerous in the world.

Over at the mural of faces street artist Nkululeko Mahlangu was embarking on a new project. Nearby Hloni Kutu and Jermaine Burts of the Azuri Street symphony put on an impromptu performance.

The city has other poverty stricken areas.

In the 1990s, Johannesburg’s authorities discussed converting the 54-astorey Ponte City into a high-rise prison.

Wisecracks noted that it was already full of criminals. But Maboneng is a start, and starting to export its fashionable

rooftop bars, weekend markets and artists’ studios in newly chic warehouses. Even at Ponte, three of the top-floor flats are available for daring tourists via Airbnb.

Daniel Monegi offers skateboarding tours. As well as people selling avocados, there are not people eating them in cafes.

‘Never grow up, it’s a trap,’ is another of the slogans in the arts centre in Maboneng. It applies to the entire suburb.

S

outh Africa tourism woke up to the fact that its tour guides are as big an asset as the sundowner in its tourism armoury.

So it proved when we were met at Johannesburg airport by Charles Ngqaqamezweri Ncube.

The Xhosa name is a giveaway, he does an impressive Nelson Mandela impression, and an impossible series of clicks when he describes going to the doctor to get a pill.

Charles is cheerful and not so much engaging, as overwhelming with his enthusiasm for his native city. Outside the apartheid museum, he tolls us how, when he was small, the regime took his mother away. He never saw her again. t the apartheid museum there is an early 1960s

A

clip of an interview with Paul Sauer, an apartheid regime cabinet minister, booming voice and smirking face, talking about how it is a difficult to task to get the African to work, to make himself as big in the eyes of his woman when he is working as when he is chasing a lion with a spear.

In a former migrant workers’ hostel in Mzimhlophe we ate miner’s foods and talked about mining. The work was hard and the risks were high.

Phtisisis and silicosis, the miners diseases were hauled to the surface as vigorously as the gold the poorly paid dislocated

tribesmen were sent to retrieve.

Our tuk tuk drivers ere Mokhinne “Isaac” Thulo, Lungile Mbangula and Philip Malepa brought us around Meadowlands, the Hector Pieterson memorial and Vilakazi Street, home to Mandela house and Desmond Tutu.

“The story of Soweto is the story of driveways,” Mokhine says. “No one had a car when they built their house but everyone had a driveway.”

Jane Siswe Dube, a traditional healer, brought us into her back room to communicate with her ancestors and heal our physical and mental ills. Vibrant and lively, she old us stories of the lost wonder of Sophiatown, the racially mixed area from where she was evicted in 1955.

Your correspondent is still smitten with the play Sophiatown by Malcom Purkey. The play t included one truly memorable line: ‘if you steal something small it is a crime, but if you steal something big, like a country it is not a crime.”

I

f you are in harmony with yourself, you may meet a lion without fear because he respects anyone with self confidence,” Nelson Mandela said.

Johannesburg is the first place to meet a lion in South Africa.

Time to be brave. It is well worth the effort.

n Jo Buitendach of Past Experiences charges SAR1,100 for a private tour and does occasional local tours for SAR 200

Clockwise Street stall in Marobeng, Daniel Monegi who conducts skateboard tours, Jo Buitendach of Past Experiences conducts a walking tour, Charles Ncube tour guide. Street scene

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 17

SPECIAL FEATURE

www.southafrica.net

H O W

T O

S E L L

Y O U R

S O U T H A F R I C A

WITH THE PEOPLE THAT KNOW IT BEST

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 18

SPECIAL FEATURE

www.southafrica.net

Namibia Namibia Namibia KALAHARI DESERT AUGRABIES KALAHARI DESERT FALLS AUGRABIES KALAHARI DESERT FALLS UPINGTON AUGRABIES FALLS UPINGTON UPINGTON

NORTHERN CAPE N RN NO A RMTAHQE U A L CA ANPDE NORTHERN CAPE NAMAQUALAND

ORANGE RIVER ORANGE RIVER ORANGE RIVER

CAPE NAMAQUALAND WINELANDS

ROBBEN ISLAND ROBBEN ISLAND ROBBEN ISLAND

CAPE

CAPE

TA B L E M O U N TA I N TA B L E M O U N TA I N TA B L E M O U N TA I N

CAPE WINELANDS CAPE TSITSIKAMMA W I N E L A N D S N AT I O N A L WESTERN PA R K CAPE TSITSIKAMMA N AT I O N A L W E S T E R NT S I T S I K A M M A PA R K TOWN CAPE N AT I O N A L WESTERN HERMANUS PA R K CAPE GARDEN TOWN ROUTE

G CA ANPSEB AH EIR WMNA N U S TA O HERMANUS GANSBAAI GANSBAAI

GARDEN ROUTE GARDEN ROUTE

S A S S A A

MA

MA L

Botswana NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 19

www.southafrica.net

LIMPOPO

PILANESBERG AT I O N A L B o t sNw ana PA R K

Zimbabwe

SPECIAL FEATURE KRUGER N AT I O N A L PA R K

PA N O R A M A ROUTE

Mozambique

PRETORIA

NELSPRUIT

LIMPOPO GAUTENG P UAM A L A N G A P I L A N E S B E RJ OGH A N N E S B U R G P A N O R M AM N O R T HN A T I O N A L ROUTE SOWETO WEST P A TR O KWERS PRETORIA

NORTH WEST

Mozambique

KRUGER N AT I O N A L PA R K ZULU B AT T L E F I E L D S NELSPRUIT

G O L D E N G A T EG A U T E N G M P U M A L AKNWGAAZ U L U N A TJ IOOH ANNAN LE S B U R G NATAL S O WP EATROK ZULU TOWERS B SA BT ET R L EGF I E LHDLSU H L U W E DRAKEN FREE STATE IMFOLOZI M O U N TA I N S PA R K BLOEMFONTEIN

SOUTH A F R I C AG ONLADTEI ON NGAALLT eE s o t h o

PIETERMARITZBURG

PA R K

DRAKENSBERG M O U N TA I N S

FREE STATE

SOUTH A F R I C AE A S T E R N

DURBAN

KWAZULUNATAL

BLOEMFONTEIN

Lesotho CAPE

ADDO ELEPHANT N AT I O N A L PA R K

PIETERMARITZBURG

DURBAN

HOLE IN THE WALL EAST LONDON

EASTERN CAPE PORT ELIZABETH

ADDO ELEPHANT N AT I O N A L PA R K

PORT ELIZABETH

HOLE IN THE WALL EAST LONDON

HLUHLUWEIMFOLOZI PA R K

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 20

SPECIAL FEATURE

www.southafrica.net

NEWS & TRENDS

NEWS, VIEWS & TRENDS GREEN INCENTIVES

Changes for family travellers

South Africa’s National Department of Tourism has created a three-year Green Tourism Incentive Programme to encourage tourism businesses to invest in sustainable water management systems, energyefficiency measures and cleaner, renewable energy generation including solar, wind and heat pumps. Qualifying enterprises receive a heavily discounted energy efficiency audit plus grant funding. tourism.gov.za

International travel requirements for children heading for South Africa have been relaxed — as of December 2018, certain categories of child travellers are now exempt from presenting supporting documents (such as unabridged birth certificates) at ports of entry. Children who are foreign nationals from countries where visas are not required — such as the UK — may be asked to produce supporting documents upon entry. Even though it’s not compulsory to produce them, travellers are strongly advised to carry the documents as they may be requested in certain instances.

Last year, South African Tourism ran a multi-sensory marketing campaign in five UK cities: London, Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow and Manchester.

Safari and city experiences were the South Africa attractions British travellers were most excited about.

8

Visitors to the Discover Your South Africa attraction were invited to walk through a series of rooms depicting South Africa’s finest scenery, food and wine, cultural roots, city lifestyles, safaris and wildlife-watching opportunities through visuals, sounds, smells and tastings.

An EEG sensor recorded the electrical activity in each participant’s brain to measure which aspects of the experience they found most stimulating.

Using this data, each person was given a profile that travel experts then used as the starting point for a tailor-made itinerary.

#HOWTOSELLSOUTHAFRICA

Overall, safari and city lifestyle experiences generated the most interest and enthusiasm, followed by culture. Participants in Birmingham were particularly excited about seeing animals in the wild. In London, the cultural experience was the most popular segment of all for participants.

WORDS: EMMA GREGG. IMAGES: GETTY

Virtual reality sets minds racing

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 21

SPECIAL FEATURE

www.southafrica.net

NEWS & TRENDS

CRUNCH THE NUMBER S

10.3m

people took holidays in South Africa in 2017, with 1,162,000 visiting the nation’s busiest attraction, the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town

447,901 British and Irish tourists visited, continuing the steady increase since 2015

TRENDS What persuades holidaymakers to choose South Africa?

South African Tourism sought to find out more about why travellers pick destinations.

An online panel survey, following up on previous focus groups, looked at priorities, influences and concerns when booking a long-haul holiday. They asked 102 young ABC1 adults (aged 25 to 34) and 305 older ABC1 adults (aged 35-64) from the UK and Ireland for their thoughts.

What do long-haul travellers hope to get out of their holiday?

WORDS: EMMA GREGG. IMAGES: GETTY

This group was made up of people who were planning a long-haul holiday within a year. Over 84% said they took this kind of trip at least once a year. The survey revealed their main reasons for going on holiday were to discover something new and enjoy good food. This was particularly the case among younger adults, who were also keen to get away from the grind of daily life.

How do they decide where to go?

Friends and family hold the most influence for young adults, followed by travel TV programmes, booking websites and films.

Among older adults, particularly women, travel TV really strikes a chord, with 75% of the group saying programmes have at least some bearing on their choice. Across all age groups, the research found that news articles are significantly more influential than adverts or blogs.

What about the dangers?

Some respondents said they would not consider South Africa for a holiday. Of those, 69% were put off by potential dangers. Even some of those who are keen to visit South Africa believe it to be dangerous and politically unstable, with most basing their opinions on news reports and word-of-mouth stories from South Africans and others. These concerns — along with secondary worries about poverty and infrastructure — are felt by both younger and older age groups.

What’s the best way to reassure travellers about South Africa?

Positive news coverage about South Africa is the factor most likely to change the minds of travellers who’d previously discounted visiting South Africa. The group also felt it was very reassuring to hear that most holidaymakers’ visits to South Africa take place without incident, and that the average British visitor rates their experience highly.

Let South Africans tell their own story Most of the group felt that South African people themselves are the best ambassadors for their country. They believe South Africans should be more positive about what it has to offer as a holiday destination.

SOUTHAFRICA.NET

70%

of British and Irish tourists visited between October and April

14

the amount of nights, on average, British and Irish tourists stayed for

30%

of British and Irish tourists visited more than one province

61%

of British and Irish tourists said that enjoying South Africa’s scenery was the most positive experience of their holiday

86%

of travellers needed special reassurance when booking a South African holiday, as they were worried about personal dangers

9

NALYSIS

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 22

SPECIAL FEATURE AAN ANAN ALLA YYSLSIYISSS I S

www.southafrica.net

ATAT TRTR AC TING AT TR ACAC TING TING VISITOR S S VISITORS VISITOR

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IMAGE: PETE GODING

IMAGE: PETE GODING IMAGE: PETE GODING

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NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 23

SPECIAL FEATURE

www.southafrica.net

ANALYSIS

Q& A Tolene Van der Merwe, Hub Head for the UK & Ireland at South African Tourism

How do you expect the UK and Ireland market to perform in 2019/20?

years, not least the boost it received from British Airways and Thomas Cook’s new Gatwick services introduced in 2015/16. Seperately, the blossoming of its upmarket Silo District on the V&A Waterfront, where highlights include the five-star Silo Hotel and Zeitz MoCAA gallery, which opened in 2017. New products in Johannesburg include the new Visitor Information Centre on Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, backed by a new-look website and app.

IMAGE: PETE GODING

IMAGE: PETE GODING

PRODUCT GROWTH On the accommodation front, the development buzz remains busiest at the high end, driven by operators such as &Beyond. UK operators including Travelsphere and Contiki continue to add new product, while Premier Holidays has devised a new trade campaign in partnership with South African Tourism and South African Airways.

The UK and Ireland remains South Africa’s number one source market for international tourist arrivals and I’m confident we’ll see an increase in visitor numbers in 2019 and 2020. The increase in UK airlift shows there is a huge demand for travel to South Africa and it will certainly have a significant impact. UK visitors can now easily access all three of our major cities in under 12 hours.

Plus, South Africa is relaxing its restrictions on travelling with minors, which will help increase the number of families and school groups visiting.

How does South Africa plan to attract more international tourists?

We’re delighted the government is focusing on supporting key tourism markets to reduce regulatory barriers and develop emerging tourism businesses.

We’re focusing on promoting some of South Africa’s lesser-known regions and encouraging tourists to discover our hidden gems, particularly outside of Cape Town and the Garden Route. The new Heathrow-Durban flight route will certainly encourage tourism growth to other, lesser-known areas of the destination in and around KwaZulu-Natal.

SOUTHAFRICA.NET

What activities are you planning for the travel trade in 2019/20?

The travel trade is vital to helping us achieve our goal of attracting four million more international tourists by 2021.

We’ll be hosting travel agent FAMs throughout 2019, including a MegaFAM in June, and following the success of our SAT School training roadshow, which runs twice a year, we intend to run this again.

Earlier this year, we broadcast a series of Facebook Live videos via our UK & Ireland Travel Trade Facebook page.

Also, we recently hired a trade training specialist whose tasks include building on our trade Facebook platform, managing an agent programme at Indaba, Africa’s largest Travel Show, and implementing agent incentives.

What are the key trade messages for 2019/20?

The key messages for 2019/2020 will focus on encouraging travel agents to maximise selling opportunities in line with the new or increased flight routes from the UK and highlight to their customers South Africa’s incredible value for money.

What tourism trends are you seeing?

There continues to be a demand for authentic travel experiences which offer the opportunity to engage with locals and give something back to the community. We are also continuing to see a significant rise in responsible tourism, not just in terms of conservation and the environment but supporting local communities and economies.

Wildlife and safari is still a key driver but through our Meet Your South Africa campaign, we’re showcasing the country’s diversity. While November to March is peak season for British and Irish travellers, South Africa is a great value for money, yearround destination.

11

ESSENTIALS ESSENTIALS

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 24

SPECIAL FEATURE

ESSENTIALS

www.southafrica.net

NEED NEED TO TO KNOW KNOW NEED TO KNOW

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HEALTH TRANSFERS temperatures of 23C, while west hothot andand drydry withwith average west average Immunisations usually Pre-booked transfers offer the winter brings HEALTH TRANSFERS temperatures of 23C,mild, whiledry HEALTH TRANSFERS temperatures of 23C, while advised are diptheria a relaxing way of seeing temperatures the tropical Immunisations usually and Pre-booked transfers offer the winter bringstomild, dry Immunisations usually Pre-booked transfers offer the winter brings mild, dry hepatitis A. Other vaccines to the country. north east coast. advised are diptheria and a relaxing way of seeing temperatures to the tropical advised areare diptheria and a relaxing way of seeing temperatures to the tropical consider hepatitis B, rabies, hepatitis A. Other vaccines to the country. north east coast. hepatitis A. Other vaccines to the country. north east coast.

VISA INFORMATION TAXIS tetanus and typhoid.

If going consider are hepatitis B, rabies, consider are typhoid. hepatitis rabies, VISA British citizens don’t need to Metered taxies are widely to mountainous areas, care INFORMATION TAXIS tetanus and If B, going obtain a visa for stays of up available throughout should be taken to avoid the VISA INFORMATION TAXIS tetanus and typhoid.

If going British citizens don’t need to Metered taxies are widelythe to mountainous areas, care to 90 days.

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British citizens don’t need to Metered taxies are widely toshould mountainous areas, care obtain a visa for stays of up available throughout the be taken to avoid the entrance policies for passengers areas.

Popular taxi apps Avoid swimming in fresh toobtain 90 days.aHowever, checking country, especially in urban the ill effects beingtoatavoid altitude. visa for stays of up available throughout should beof taken the travelling with children under areas.

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IMAGE: PETE GODING

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LANGUAGES

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IMAGE: PETE GODING

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A big plus is GMT+2. jetislag A big no plus A big plus is no jet lag

I

n Eastern Cape, the sea is never far away. Dave Caravias and Almarie Leimecke loaded us on fat tyred bicycles to cycle over the dunes over De Kelders dunes in Gansbaa.

The bikes prevented us sinking in the sand and we sailed over the dunes with all the grace of a Mister bean sketch.

Dave found the route on Google Maps and treated it like a ski terrain, a baby slope to train us in, a few hair raising ones to rest our mettle an d a big finish along the spectacular sculpted coastline, white elephant rock and cashing waves around us.

South Africa’s south west corner has a character all of its own.

The famed Cape doctor, the cooling south east breeze from Antarctica controls the temperature. The waves against the rocks release more ozone. The older vines are resistant to drought.

Cape Town’s signature attraction, the table Mountain and characteristic tablecloth of white mist, has seen a few droughts come and go in its time.

Ten cable car to the top rotates as it climbs, giving the 64 passengers an equal view of the city and the crevices of the hill. Queues mount in the morning.

A dassie jumped on to a sign about himself and posed for the tourists.

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 25

DESTINATION SOUTH AFRICA Eoghan Corry explores Cape Town’s hinterland

Liquid assets W

Dassies pose for tourists on Table Mountain

aterford Wine Estate ihas nothing to do with the Irish county.

Indeed, Waterford Glass prevented them marketing their wines in USA South Africa’s wine reputation has soared over the past decade, light as a feather pinot noir, fruity Cabernets and the signature Pinotage. The intricacies of the wines became apparent on a wine safari conducted by Frieda Lloyd of Heramus wine safaris. They do the driving, guests do the tasting. “The region was not known for its wine,” Peter Finlayson hosted us at Bouchard Finlayson says. “We had to build it

from scratch.”

Philip Mostert brought us through 14 tastings at Creation wines. It was a long lunch, capped with a Syrah 80pc Grenache 20pc finish “our crowd pleaser, Grenache lifts up acidity in wine.”

What can you do to make the wine taste even better? Carl van der Merwe of De Morgenzon vineyard has the answer.

He plays classical music to the grapes.

He cited some European research to justify the expense of laying speakers and putting on loops of Mahler and Beethoven to his crops.

He turns it off at night to give their ears a rest.

M

ichael Litzeyer was driving in the countryside when he first set eyes on the farm that was to become Grootbos.

It started life as self-catering accommodation but since then has grown to become a five start luxury lodge with a ration of 150 staff to 50 keys with its own farm suppling nearly 20pc of its restaurant requirements off its own farm.

The resort has 11 species on the red danger list

in its care, 393 species in all or which six were discovered by Seán the kayaking botanist when they surveyed the area.

Michael spoke with pride of the connection with the local community as we consumed a 2011 Creation Pinot Noir.

Jono Durham took us on a tour of the mountain terrain, showing us Heather banana shrimp Erica and Succulent sour fig and watching the sun set as the warm breeze from the sea ruffled our hair

This was a country drive with a difference, no lions or faux-wilderness as can be found in private reserves but a celebration of the landscape.

Kader Asmal, the adopted son of Dublin who returned to serve as a Government Minister in South Africa in 1994, opened a horticultural school here in 2003.

“Conservation in isolation is not helping anything,” says Jono.

n Eoghan Corry was hosted in Western cape by the South African Tourist Board. n He flew to Cape Town with SAA via Heathrow same terminal transfer from Aer Lingus.

Clockwise: the dassie on a sign about himself on table Mountain, Carl Van der Merwe of De Morgenzon, view to Table Mountain,Kevin Arnold of Waterford Wine Estate and Jono Durham of Grootbos resort

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 26

AFLOAT H&W Harland and Wolff was sold for

£6m to InfraStrata, saving it from closure and rescuing 79 jobs. Workers are now set to be involved in works on a proposed underground gas storage facility at Islandmagee in Co Antrim. A consortium which includes Harland and Wolff shipyard has won a £1.25 bn contract to build five new English Navy frigates.

The Babcock-led consortium will be named preferred bidder for the supply of five Type 31e frigates to the Royal Navy, in a huge boost to the viability of the under threat Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.

ROYAL Caribbean confirmed that it is ending its Dine-Drink-Discover programme, which offered select perks to passengers booking Central Park and Boardwalk balcony cabins on Oasis-class ships, after January 1, 2020.

CELEBRITY Cruises has reversed its decision to pull free in-cabin movies and will continue to offer a wide selection of the new releases and iconic films in theatres, outdoor screens and in the guest staterooms using the On-Demand TV system.”

PRINCESS Cruises floated out the 143,700-ton 3,660 passenger Enchanted Princess at the Fincantieri Shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy. The fifth in Princess’ Royal Class of ships , she is scheduled to debut in June 2020.

Enchanted Princess will offer Princess’ Ocean Medallion technology; an onboard jazz theatre; a spa featuring Princess’ largest thermal suite; 25 different restaurants and bars, and some of the largest balconies at sea when it debuts boasting Princess’ new Sky Suites concept.

VIKING Cruises 930-passenger seventh ocean ship, Viking Venus, to launch 2021.will spend its maiden season in Scandinavia and Northern Europe, sailing popular itineraries including Britain and Ireland Explorer, In Search of the Northern Lights, Viking Homelands and Into the Midnight Sun.

NORWEGIAN Cruise Line will become the first cruise line in the industry to eliminate all plastic water bottles by January 1, 2020, partnering with JUST Goods to provide packaged water in plant-based cartons. The cruise line anticipates eliminating six million plastic bottles a year.

MSC’s two Seaside EVO vessels, scheduled to debut in 2021, will offer 28 additional terraced suites, two new accommodation categories within MSC Yacht Club, new adjoining family cabins that can accommodate between six and ten people, 75 cabins for passengers with disabilities, two new dining venues and a new two-deck show lounge situated at the ship’s stern. Details were revealed at a coin ceremony for the ship at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy, on September 19.

NORWEGIAN president and CEO Andy Stuart, is leaving the cruise line following the launch of Norwegian Encore. He will be succeeded by Harry Sommer, current president, International for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings.

The 3,660 passenger Sky Princess

Reaching for sky Princess hosts travel trade on pre launch cruise

P

rincess Cruises hopes to boost Irish bookings over the winter and spring thanks to a TV campaign featured Francis Brennan and the launch of the 3,660 passenger Sky Pirncess to the trade.

Her accommodations will include two debuting styles on Princess: the “Sky Suites”, on Deck 18, the Sky Deck, and six “oceanview” rooms, dubbed “Premium Oceanview” rooms, on Deck 17, the Sun Deck.

Sky Princess was tested or a fourday pre-inaugural cruise on October 2019 by travel agents who were in-

vited to sail from Trieste to Athens with a call in Kotor.

The inaugural cruise was a seven-day cruise sailing between Athens and Barcelona.[11] Sky Princess will sail her inaugural season in the Mediterranean in autumn 2019 before repositioning to Port Everglades, arriving on 1 December 2019.

Two three-day inaugural cruises will take place due to high demand, with the first embarking on December 1 and the second on December 4, with both cruising between Port Everglades and Princess Cays.

For her debuting Caribbean season, she will launch an alternating series of seven-day Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries round-trip from Port Everglades between December 2019 and April 2020.

For her first summer cruise season, Sky Princess will embark on her inaugural Northern Europe season, sailing the Baltic Sea, with 10/11-day voyages calling on ports in Scandinavia and will then reposition to New York City to sail along the eastern Canada and New England coastline in Autumn 2020.

FRED OLSEN LAUNCH NEW 2020 ITINERARIES

F

red Olsen Cruise Lines is giving passengers a free drinks upgrade on 2020/21 cruise sailings booked before October 31.

The package includes house wines by the glass, selected beers, spirits and soft drinks and will be available on 75 sailings to the Baltic and Norwegian fjords, 16-night breaks

to Greenland and warm weather European destinations such as Canary Islands. Eligible voyages include: Canaries and Portugal cruise: 14-night roundtrip Liverpool sailing on Black Watch departing 28 April, 2020.

Waterways & Cities of Holland and Belgium: Seven-night round-trip Dover ion Boudicca departing 18 May, 2020,

Baltic Capitals: 14night round-trip Edinburgh (Rosyth) itinerary on Balmoral departing 8 June, 2020, .

Springtime in fjordland: Eight-night roundtrip Southampton sailing on Braemar departing 1 April, 2021,.

The offer is available on cruises from April 2020 and May 2021 booked by October, 31.

Alan Lynch Fred Olsen GSA

MARDI GRAS HEADS TO FLORIDA

C

arnival’s new Mardi Gras, the first Carnival Cruise Line ship in many years to not include “Car-

nival” in its official name, will homeport in Port Canaveral after inaugural sailings in Europe and New York on launch n.

The ship will include six themed “zones”, a new Creole restaurant developed by Celebrity Chef Emeril Lagasse, the

first-ever roller coaster at sea and a classic blue hull design, with red and white accent stripes that will run the length of the ship.

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 27

AFLOAT

CELEBRITY C Cruises has pushed back the refurbishment of Celebrity Eclipse to spring 2021. The ship was scheduled to enter dry dock on October 27, 2020 and stay for a month. Instead, the ship will enter dry dock on March 7, 2021 and remain until April 3, 2021.

CARNIVAL Cruise Line’s second Excel-class cruise ship, the sister vessel to Mardi Gras, which launches next year, will sail from Miami on launch in late 2022.

P&Os 3,647-passenger flagship Britannia forthcoming refit will see a new art gallery, a Dixons, more high-end shopping brands and a completely refurbished Atrium.

Royal Caribbean confirmed that formal night will be retained on its longer sailings.

MIAMI approved Carnival Cruise Line’s

View of Amsterdam from River Empress

Uniworld steps up

U

TTC speeds up supership status for rive fleet

niworld Boutique River Cruise Collection says four more of its European river ship fleet will be transformed into socalled super ships.

Sister 130 passenger-ships River Empress, River Duchess, River Princess and River Queen, will have new restaurants, new suites and “more luxury finishes”, according to Uniworld CEO Ellen Bettridge.

“That means our entire European river fleet will be super ships in 2021.

That means more dining venues,

more suites and more luxury finishes.

We can’t rest on our laurels.”

To make the changes the line needed to take out cabins to make bigger suites; as well as taking out cabins to increase the number of restaurants to four from the existing one.

Uniworld has gradually been refurbishing its older river cruise ships refitting them to “super ship” status.

Uniworld reduces the number of passengers and creates more suites and more connecting rooms for people traveling together. Most

have locally-sourced art and cuisine; added dining options; and are built with eco-friendly materials.

River Beatrice became SS Beatrice last year and in April 2019, River Royale was rechristened SS Bon Voyage. River Countess becomes SS La Venezia in 2020. It is replacing ships in Egypt, the Mekong and Portugal with super ships.

England Managing Director Chris Townson, said our aim is to have the best very best river cruise ship on every river we sail on.”

ESTRID REPLACES STENA SUPERFAST NEXT YEAR

W

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.

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.

C

destinations, extended port stays and 174 itineraries offering late evening departures to enable passengers to make the most of time spent in ports of call. Overnight stays include Boston, Funchal,

THE RIVER Cruise Line has announced plans to refurbish and charter a river cruise ship for launch at the end of March next year, MS Arena.

NORWEGIAN Cruise Line Priority Access programme is being tested on Norwegian Sky and Norwegian Breakaway allowing guests to pay to enhance their experience, priority security, check-in, boarding and tendering; access to a daily complimentary room service breakfast menu; a $50 spa credit for use on port days; and in-cabin canapes to be delivered on the second day of the cruise. The package also includes priority disembarkation.

ROYAL Caribbean’s second Quantum Plus-class cruise ship, Odyssey of the Seas, will sail from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale from November 2020.

PRINCESS Regal Princess will call at Dublin 13 times in 2020 and 11 times in Cork.

REGENT Seven Seas enrichment experiences on its 2020 voyages include public broadcasting, journalism, film and television, wine, Broadway entertainment, gardening and floristry, and heritage.

HAPAG-Lloyd’s 230-passenger luxury expedition ship, Hanseatic Inspiration, was named at the Port of Hamburg, he second of three new expedition ships on order for HapagLloyd and the first of the trio to be dedicated both to the English and German-speaking markets year-round.

Diane Poole of Stena

CUNARD LAUNCHES 2020-1 LIST

unard’s three ships Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth sail to 123 destinations in 39 countries in 2020-21.

The programme will include 17 Mediterranean

plans to expand Terminal F at PortMiami to accommodate bigger ships, scheduled to be completed by October 2022.

Lisbon, Quebec, Reykjavik, Rotterdam, Shanghai, Singapore and St Petersburg. Queen Victoria’s European itinerary will include 20 Southampton round-trip sailings, with a maiden visit to Aarhus in

Denmark. Queen Elizabeth based in the AsiaPacific region. Queen Mary 2 will continue to make the crossing from Southampton to New York and back -- a total of 23 in 2021.

DISNEY Cruise Line will be returning to the Port of New Orleans for a limited time in early 2021, with voyages to the Bahamas and the Caribbean offered between January and March. The new itineraries, which include the line’s inaugural call to Progreso, will operate aboard Disney Wonder.

CARNIVAL Corporation signed an agreement with the Government of the Bahamas to develop two port initiatives on Grand Bahama Island, and a Holland America Line’s Half Moon Cay. Both projects are scheduled to start by the middle of 2020

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 28

THE FLYING COLUMN DAA CEO Dalton Phillips said price cuts

proposed by CAR threaten financing but would transfer wealth to the airlines, all of which are really foreign-owned. He said price cuts at Dublin threaten Cork and Shannon viability.

IAA The Irish Aviation Authority is set to

replace instrument landing systems at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports. IAA said that it needs to replace the current instrument landing systems (ILS), which were commissioned between 2006-07, “in the immediate future”.

Work to replace the existing system in Dublin will start in 2021, potentially finishing in 2022, preceded by an installation for the new runway to commence end 2020, to be completed in 2021. ILS replacement work will begin in Cork in 2022, and in 2023 for Shannon.

BOEING suspended load testing of its

new widebody 777X aircraft as media reports said a cargo door failed in a ground stress test on a static test airplane.

DUBLIN Airport handled 3.4m passen-

gers in August, up 6pc and the busiest August ever in the airport’s 79-year history. Just over 100,000 passengers travelled through the Airport every day in August except August 31.

Britain was up 1pc to 935,000, , Europe was up 8pc to 1.9m, North America up 5pc to 490,000, other 118,000 (Middle East, Africa and the Asia Pacific region) domestic routes up 2pc to 12,000. Connecting passengers were up 7pc to 1.3m passengers (650,000 connections). So far this year, 22.4m passengers have travelled through Dublin Airport, up 6pc

RYANAIR is to end services between Belfast International Airport and Berlin, Manchester and Lanzarote following cuts to services between Belfast and Polish airports.

AER LINGUS Chief Strategy &

Planning Officer Greg Kaldahl retired at end of July and has returned to Chicago. Before Aer Lingus, he was SVP Network at Etihad, SVP-Resource Management at Finnair and VP-Resource Planning at United.

AER LINGUS is to end its summer

services, operated by ASL Airlines, connecting Belfast City Airport to Faro and Malaga. Aer Lingus said the decision came “following a commercial review which determined that the routes were not performing in line with expectations”. It will continue its daily service between Belfast City and Heathrow next year.

ETHIOPIAN Airlines re-opened reser-

vation for Addis Ababa-Lomé-Houston route from December 16 with B787-8 3w. Ethiopian will operate its Addis Ababa-Dublin services via Brussels instead of Madrid from October 28, 3w with B787. It is not yet clear if it offer fights on the Brussels-Dublin sector.

RYANAIR removed six routes from Leeds/ Bradford to Faro, Fuerteventura, Las Palmas, Lanzarote, Murcia, Corvera and Vilnius

INFLIGHT Dublin has been awarded a three year contract for the provision of Inflight Entertainment by SAS. The first cycle of content provided by Inflight Dublin will com-

How long more?

Ryanair says March before B737MAX back in air

R

Grounded 737MAX at Dublin airport. Photo by Mike Kelly Shauna Mariotti at the opening of the new East yanair thinks February or the Most of our planning is based on 30 will need about 600 less pilots and cabin crew for summer 2020” based start of March 2020 is the MAX aircraft for next year.”

“About 15 of our aircraft short- on the assumption that the operator most realistic timetable for it to start flying the grounded B737 age next summer will be made up would receive around 30 Max jets by postponing aircraft sales and ex- during 2020.“ MAX aircraft.

“At the moment, we have 500 surMichael O’Leary confirmed that tending leases”.

Ryanair is looking for between 500 Under a deal reach with lessor plus pilots. We are already engaged and 700 lay-offs, but said the precise GECAS, Ryanair will keep 7 of 10 in discussions with unions and with number would depend on when the “older 737NGs” that the operator had particular bases.” Ryanair has about MAX can start flying again. originally intended to sell this win- 400 pilots in Dublin, and may need to “It is not a case that we can get all ter. “We’re also extending some of cut about 10 or 20 of those.

In its recent results the airline said our MAX deliveries at tehs ame time. the aircraft that are coming off lease When the MAX resumes we will at the moment. I think it is seven or its business has been becoming more have to await our deliveries before eight aircraft, we’ ae extending leases seasonal and more dependent on Q2.

Traffic for Q1 was 41.9m passenfor another 12 months.” we can start to grow again.”

Any further delay will mean “we gers, up 11pc, 1.7m on Lauda. The “If the B737 MAX is back flying

by March we could take maybe 30/40 have to look again at our summer like for like Ryanair comparison was aircraft for next year, but we won’t be 2020 capacity. That might involve up about 7pc). Revenue was up 11pc able to take all 60. If it is slightly later more cuts and some more job losses,. to €2,312m, so average revenue per than that, it could come down to 30. In early August, he stated that “we passenger was flat at €55..

MIKE RUTTER LEAVES ROLE SPLIT INTO TWO

,Following departure of Aer Lingus COO Mike Rutter, his role has been split into two.

The Director of Digital Ventures in IAG Cargo, David Shepherd, has been appointed as Chief Commercial Officer, Long-term Aer Lingus executive Peter

O’Neill has been appointed as interim COO with responsibility for Flight Ops, Inflight Services, Crew Resourcing, Ground Ops and Catering.

Employee Relations and Change Director Sean Murphy is to assume interim responsibility for Guest Services,

Ramp and Cabin Appearance functions at Dublin Airport.

CEO Sean Doyle praised Rutter’s role in the airline’s revenue performance increasing from €1bn to more than €2bn in four years and highlighted Rutter’s role in achieving strong cost reductions.

Mike Rutter

BOMBARDIER TO EXPAND BELFAST

B

ombardier is planning to expand its aerospace manufacturing facility in Belfast amid plans to sell its aerostructures business.

The Canadian-owned plane maker has submit-

ted plans which could see a 31,500sqm extension to its huge 52,500sqm site at Airport Road West.

New plans include a 20,800sqm expansion to the east of the site, with its wing assembly area

extended by 4,500sqm towards the west.

Bombardier employs around 3,600 people in Northern Ireland, including 1,000 working on the former CSeries jets, which have been rebranded as the

A220, after Airbus took on a majority stake.

The complete wings and fuselage components for the jet are made within the Canadian aerospace giant’s Belfast operation, which remains up for sale.

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 29

THE FLYING COLUMN XLAirlines, operating five leased A330s, mainly on long-haul low fare flights between France, the Caribbean, the US and France’s Reunion island, has ceased ticket sales. La Compagnie which has two A321 and two B757, all leased, operates business class service Paris and Nice to Newark NJ, says it is not affected by the XL failure.

AIGLE AZUR Air France and Groupe Dubreuil (French Bee, Air Caraïbes, France) have withdrawn their joint bid for Aigle Azur France after determining there was no economically viable plan

Shauna Mariotti at the opening of the new East Lounge at Dublin Airport.

New East lounge Former Etihad lounge open to all Asia services

D

ublin Airport has refurbished the old Etihad lunge to launch an east bound version of its trans-Atlantic lounge, 51st and Green for Business and First-Class passengers travelling to eastern destinations.

East Lounge is located beyond the passenger security screening area between T1 and T2 and will cater for passengers travelling with Emirates, Etihad Airways and Turkish Airlines.

The lounge is divided into work, relaxation, bar and dining areas and

can accommodate up to 86 guests. As well as premium food and drink facilities, it offers a concierge service, luxury shower rooms, a quiet prayer room, an entertainment area, charging outlets for multiple devices and high speed unlimited WiFi.

HOTEL AMONG PLANS FOR KNOCK AIRPORT

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rovision for a hotel and conference facilities have been included in the Strategic Development Zone to be located around Ireland West Airport Knock.

Councillors unanimously passed a motion at last week’s

monthly meeting of Mayo County Council to adopt the draft planning scheme for the Strategic Development Zone at Knock.

The purpose of the planning scheme is to set out an overall vision and set of guiding principles for the SDZ area.

It will serve as a design framework for the future development of the lands in and around Knock.

There are ten areas in the state designated as SDZs: the Knock Airport SDZ will be the only one located outside an urban area in Ireland.

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The seven recommendations issued to the FAA urge action in three areas to improve flight safety: n Ensure system safety assessments for the B737 MAX (and other transport-category airplanes) that used certain assumptions about pilot response to uncommanded flight control inputs, consider the effect of alerts and indica-

DATALEX Niall O’Sullivan CFO of Datalex has said the company is “well-positioned” to return to profit. He said the troubled travel software company - which provides e-commerce capabilities for travel booking firms and airlines including Aer Lingus expects to report earnings figures for 2019 ranging from a loss of $1m to a profit of $1m.

Share trading is still suspended. .NUI Galway and partners completed the world’s first autonomous beyond visual line of sight, vertical take-off and landing drone delivery of diabetes prescription medications (insulin, glucagon) and collection of a patient blood sample between Aerfort na Mine/ Connemara Airport and Inis Mór, Aran Islands.

CORSAIR France is to start service

from Paris Orly to Newark on 10Jun20, with A330-900. Plus French Bee, this makes 10 carriers due to operate Paris-NYC next summer.

DUBLIN-London is the 4th busiest international route in seats after Hong Kong-Taipei, London New York, and Seoul-Tokyo.

DATALEX Former Aer Lingus CEO Stephen Kavanagh is set to join Datalex as one of three new non-executive directors.

Knock CEO Joe Gilmore

ALERTS CONCERN FOR B737MAX

he US National Transportation Safety Board issued seven safety recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration, calling upon the agency to address concerns about how multiple alerts and indications are considered when making assumptions as part of design safety assessments.

VIRGIN Atlantic says it will fly to Belfast City, Cork and Dublin among 84 new destinations from Heathrow after a third runway is opened. Twelve in Britain including Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Exeter, Guernsey, Glasgow, Inverness, Liverpool, Jersey, Manchester, Newcastle and Newquay, 37 elsewhere in Europe and 35 new long-haul destinations in North and South America, Asia and Africa.

tions on pilot response and address any gaps in design, procedures, and/or training. n Develop and incorporate the use of robust tools and methods for validating assumptions about pilot response to airplane failures as part of design certification. n Incorporate system diagnostic tools to improve the

prioritisation of and more clearly present failure indications to pilots to improve the timeliness and effectiveness of their response.

The US FAA is set to urge ICAO to address pilot training deficiencies that may leave some airline pilots unprepared to manually fly aircraft when automated systems fail.

AER LINGUS plans to reorganise

its shareholding to allow it to continue flying between EU member states in the event of a no-deal Brexit have been accepted by the Irish regulator but is yet to get approval from the European Commission.

RYANAIR

reached a deal with Portuguese national airport authority ANA to keep a seasonal base at Faro although the number of aircraft stationed there will be reduced from three to two. Ryanair said the Faro base will; be seasonal and is only possible as long as staff agree to seasonal contracts. Around 80 people could still lose their jobs.

ETHAD is delaying five A350-1000s as it strives to return to profitability after three consecutive years of losses.

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 30

THE FLYING COLUMN T3 Ulick McEvaddy is preparing to lodge new plans for a T3 on 50 hectares of his land west of Dublin Airport. He says he has backing of Dubai-based investment fund Tricap to spend €2 bn in phases on a terminal to handle 30m passengers pa. The plan is to include a dual carriageway from the M2.

IAG estimated the financial impact of the industrial action by pilots is estimated to be €137m, he loss of three to four days revenue, while threatened strikes by Heathrow Airport employees had a further impact of €33m and an impact on booking trends of €45m.

Capacity growth is revised to 2pc, 1.2 below guidance. September passenger numbers were up slightly, 0.6pc to 10,639k. Aer Lingus passenegr numbers were up 0/7m to 10,094k, with evenure up 3.5pc and load factor 84.6.

MALTA McGinley aviation, which

employs Ryanair contract pilots at many European bases, has told pilots in Malta that they will transfer to the Irish carrier’s local subsidiary in November..

IATA announced the launch of IATA MRO SmartHub, an online marketplace which will make it easier for airlines and maintenance facilities to share information on aircraft components and parts available. Subscribing airlines and maintenance, repair and overhaul providers can list items to buy or sell on the new platform with greater transparency on fair market value.

IRISH AIR CORPS ageing Non

Directional Beacon and Distance Measuring Equipment at Gormanston in Co Meath are due to be replaced by new equipment in 2019 and is seeking proposals from suppliers.

IAG CEO Willie Walsh said the airline group was interested in slots at Gatwick that may be up for grabs following the collapse of travel firm Thomas Cook.

DELTA is to take a 20pc stake in

LATAM which will quit oneworld.

RYANAIR/EXPEDIA Ryanair

and Expedia settled lawsuits in the United States and Ireland, and Ryanair flights are no longer available on Expedia websites.

MALTA Ryanair subsidiary Malta Air was granted its AOC and AOL.

AIRBUS delivered the 9,000th A320

family aircraft to easyJet. The A320neo joins the airline’s fleet of 331 aircraft.

RYANAIR has been reported as applying for flights to St Petersburg.

GATWICK opened a new £24m arrivals facility for travellers from Ireland and airports within Britain, providing what it calls a faster and more convenient exit from the aircraft through a new dedicated arrivals route..

Passengers will now be able to disembark their aircraft from a jetty, or via aircraft steps and straight into the terminal building. A new baggage reclaim belt has also been installed freeing up capacity for international passengers.

Ryanair announced 20 new routes from Ireland in 2019 but just four in 2020

Ryanair grows 1pc Just 4 new routes as plans curtailed by MAX mess

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yanair Irish Summer 2020 schedule will see growth remain almost flat at 1pc growth.

The with 160 routes in total, including four new Dublin routes Marseille (5w), Palanga (3), Podgorica (2) and Verona (3), and three new summer services from Cork to Katowice (2) and from Dublin to Billund

(2) and Toulouse (daily).

Ryanair say these and more flights on some other routes, which will deliver 17.2m customers pa, 14.3m at Dublin, 1.2m at Cork, 775,000 at Shannon, 600,000 at Knock and 310,000 at Kerry.

The four new Ryanair routes compare with 20 new routes in 2019, 14 from Dublin, three from Cork, two

from Shannon and one from Knock.

Kenny Jacobs of Ryanair says “it is still 17.1m customers so it is still huge. The level of growth will be driven by the number of MAX and when we get the Max, here and across Europe.

Dublin Stuttgart is gone and Knock has lost Lanzarote and Tenerife but faro stays.

DAA TO CHALLENGE PLANNING RESTRICTION

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AA Chief Executive Dalton Phillips said that some planned developments at Dublin Airport have been put on hold because the Commission for Aviation Regulation was proposing to cut airport charges by 22pc.

He said €2 bn in de-

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velopments, including new boarding gates and parking stands, have been stalled.

DAA is also planning to challenge existing restrictions on late night and early morning flights.

Fingal County Council has been appointed noise regulator to deal

with the issue. But local residents do not accept the impartiality of the council, according to Sheila Morris of the Concerned St Margaret’s Residents Association. She said residents will go to European courts to resist the extension of night time flights

Dalton Phillips

STORMONT CONNECT REPORT

he Stormont Department for the Economy study of the factors involved in consideration of how to improve aviation connectivity proposes priority routes, from Belfast airports to

Doha; New York JFK, Toronto, Boston; Frankfurt/ Dusseldorf, Copenhagen, Stockholm/Oslo, Brussels, Madrid, Zurich, Munich; Budapest, Bucharest, Riga; plus Derry to Dublin, Manchester, Birmingham.

The report was prepared by consultants at Oxford Economics. Using an index of the number of seats on aircraft movements, relative to the size of the population, the north has half the level of connectivity of

the rest of Ireland and less than Denmark, New Zealand, Scotland and Finland.

Data for There are references throughout the report to EU constraints on State aids to airports and air routes.

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 31

THE FLYING COLUMN

First in Europe

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KNIGHTHOOD Capital Partners

Ryanair tops Lufthansa with record August figures

yanair passed 150m passengers a year when rolling annual passenger numbers reached 140.3m to end September.

Ryanair carried an extra million passengers in September, maintaining the growth of 8pc from August and slightly below the growth of 9pc recorded in July.

Growth figures to June were skewed by the fact that Lauda had been acquired by the group less than twelve months previously, but growth for the Ryanair brand was also 8pc.

Growth figures for the previous four Septembers had all been in double digits, Load factor of 96pc is still among

2019

Sept Aug July June May Apr Mar Feb Jan

Ryanair is the sixth airline to carry more than 150m passengers in a year.

Ryanair operated 78,000 scheduled flights in September.

2018 Dec 10.3m Nov 10.4m Oct 13.1m Sept 13.1m Aug 13.8m July 13.1m June 12.6m May 12.5m April 12.3m Mar 10.0m Feb 8.6m Jan 9.3m

2017 Dec Nov Oct Sept Aug July June May Apr Mar Feb Jan

2018 Dec 12pc Nov 11pc Oct 11pc Sept 11pc Aug 9pc July 4pc June 7pc May 6pc Apr 9pc Mar 6pc Feb 5pc Jan 6pc

2017 Dec 3pc Nov 6pc Oct 8pc Sept 10pc Aug 10pc July 11pc June 12pc May 11pc April 14pc March 10pc Feb 10pc Jan 17pc

2016 Dec 20pc Nov 15pc Oct 13pc Sept 12pc August 10pc July 11pc June 14pc May 16pc April 16pc March 28pc Feb 28pc Jan 25pc

2015 Dec 25pc Nov 21pc Oct 15pc Sept 12pc August 10pc July 11pc June 14pc May 16pc April 16pc March 28pc Feb 29pc Jan 30pc

2014 Dec 20pc Nov 22pc Oct 5pc Sept 5pc August 4pc July 3pc June 5pc May 4pc April 5pc March -4pc Feb 7pc Jan 7pc

2018 Dec 95pc Nov 96pc Oct 96pc Sept 97pc Aug 97pc July 97pc June 96pc May 96pc Apr 96pc Mar 95pc Feb 95pc Jan 91pc

2017 Dec 95pc Nov 96pc Oct 96pc Sept 97pc Aug 97pc July 97pc June 96pc May 95pc April 96pc March 94pc Feb 95pc Jan 90pc

2016 Dec 94pc Nov 95pc Oct 95pc Sept 95pc August 96pc July 96pc June 94pc May 94pc April 93pc March 94pc Feb 93pc Jan 88pc

2015 Dec 91pc Nov 93pc Oct 94pc Sept 94pc August 95pc July 95pc June 93pc May 92pc April 91pc March 90pc Feb 89pc Jan 83pc

2014 Dec 88pc Nov 88pc Oct 89pc Sept 90pc August 93pc July 91pc June 88pc May 85pc April 84pc March 80pc Feb 78pc Jan 71pc

9.3m 9.3m 11.8m 11.8m 12.7m 12.6m 11.8m 11.8m 11.3m 9.4m 8.2m 8.77m

2016 Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan

9m 8.8m 10.9m 10.8m 11.5m 11.3m 10.6m 10.6m 9.90m 8.5m 7.4m 7.48m

2015 Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan

7.5m 7.71m 9.68m 9.55m 10.4m 10.14m 9.5m 9.5m 9.0m 8.5m 7.4m 7.48m

2014 Dec Nov Oct Sept Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan

RYANAIR MONTHLY GROWTH FIGURES SINCE 2014

8pc 8pc 9pc 13pc 13pc 10pc 9pc 13pc 11pc

2019

Sept Aug July June May Apr Mar Feb Jan

the industry’s highest, but down from then 97pc recorded in the previous two Septembers and in July and August for three years in a row.

RYANAIR MONTHLY PASSENGER NUMBERS SINCE 2014

Sept 14.1pc Aug 14.9m July 14.8m June 14.2m May 14.1m April 13.5m Mar 10.9m Feb 9.6m Jan 10.3m 2019

Kenny Jacobs, and new Ryanair CEO Eddy Wilson

96pc 97pc 97pc 97pc 96pc 96pc 96pc 96pc 91pc

RYANAIR MONTHLY LOAD FACTOR SINCE 2014

6.02m 6.35m 8.4m 8.5m 9.4m 9.1m 8.3m 8.2m 7.8m 5.2m 4.5m 4.6m

(Switzerland), headed by James Hogan, and Six West (Ireland) have formed a strategic alliance to explore and develop new growth opportunities for the aircraft leasing industry, from their base in Malta.

ROLLS ROYCE continues to work to overcome the premature blade deterioration on Trent 1000s that power a part of the B787 fleet and warned that remedying the issues will take longer than previously estimated.

EMIRATES/ETIHAD Tim Clark, President of Emirates, said the carrier is working closely with Etihad Airways, and left the door open for further cooperation between the two in back office operations. He said that while it is important each airline remains a separate entity, there are many areas including engine overhaul and supply chain where they can work together. Etihad and Emirates already cooperate in aviation security, as well as in maintenance, repair, and overhaul.

EAST COAST National Flight Cen-

tre launched its new helicopter charter service, East Coast Helicopters, based at Weston Airport. The initial helicopter is a Bell 206 Long Ranger 4 with six executive passenger seats, space to store luggage/golf clubs and a cruising speed of 200km/hr. The helicopter has recently undergone an executive interior refurbishment at Billings Flight Services in Montana.

SHANNON says it will incur significant cost in order to comply with the new regulatory requirement to upgrade our hold baggage screening system. Under EU rules, airports with less than 3m passengers are eligible for government funding for these types of project but has not received confirmation of any government financial support. The Airport has just signed a c €9.73m contract with Dublin-based Flynn Contractors to carry out the works MANCHESTER had to issue a

NOTAM restricting diversions due to lack of aircraft parking spaces due to the number of Thomas Cook aircraft are mostly parked at the airport. Manchester is the largest point in the Thomas Cook Airlines network and accounts for a 16.6pc share of its weekly seat capacity.

Thomas Cook is the third largest operator in Cardiff behind TUI Airways and Flybe with a 12.6pc share of its system capacity.

GECAS, based in Shannon, and the University of Limerick School of Engineering, announced Ireland’s first-ever Women in Aviation Scholarship increase engagement by female students in Aeronautical Engineering.

DAA formally asked Fingal County Coun-

cil to raise the annual cap on passenger traffic at Dublin Airport to 35m from 32m. It follows a recent request by daa that transfer passengers not be included in the total tally at the gateway, as it seeks to avoid breaching the existing cap.

It noted that raising the cap would supersede a condition imposed when planning permission was secured in 2006 for the construction of T2, and also a condition that was imposed in relation to an extension at T1.

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 32

THE FLYING COLUMN NORWEGIAN Air International:

Dublin-Copenhagen is being dropped for the winter and Dublin-Helsinki is ended.

BELFAST George Best Belfast City Airport has been named the ‘Airport of the Year’ at Air Convention 2019, in Vilnius.

AMERICAN Airlines CEO said he expects Dublin to be their major focus city in Europe for expansion for the foreseeable.

PERTH got a new service for five rota-

tions to Shanghai–Pudong from China Eastern. to become a full route would it succeed.

FLYBE Isle of Man services will be taken

over by Stobart Air ATR 72s next spring.

Flybe previously said the route between Ronaldsway and Heathrow was to end October.

AERCAP Holdings has signed an agreement to sell a 19-aircraft portfolio to Dara Aviation Ireland, an entity established by NCB Capital from Saudi Arabia. The 19-aircraft portfolio consists of a mix of widebody and narrowbody aircraft will be serviced by AerCap. Datalex, the travel retail software company grappling with an accounting scandal, is set to lose its biggest and most problematic contract, a project to overhaul German airline Lufthansa’s digital commerce offering. Datalex said, however, that it “strongly disputes the legality of this notice”.

INFLIGHT Dublin will be providing its all-in-one wireless IFE solution, Everhub, across a number of Loftleidir Icelandic’s fleet allowing for an enhanced on board experience for its charter clients. The deal sees Inflight Dublin provide a wireless solution consisting of hardware, software and content provision.

Loftleidir Icelandic has received premium content from Inflight Dublin for the last two years, and is expanding its IFE to its charter clients.

NBAA representatives are working with US government to obtain approval on a catering program at Shannon that would eliminate the need to manage international trash.

RYANAIR added 167 flights a day to European airspace in July - the most of any airline - according to figures from Eurocontrol.

Craic CR929 supplier selection will drag on into 2020, perhaps not reaching a conclusion until three years into the development program of the Russo-Chinese widebody airliner.

ETHIOPIAN Airlines Group reported

profit up 18pc to US$233m in the year to June 30, with passengers up 14pc and 25 more aircraft due this year, bringing its fleet to 144 adding 11 new routes.

CATHAY Pacific will end its 5th free-

dom route between Vancouver and JFK in April 2020. It says the route “has been losing money for a number of years.”

TYRONE aviation specialists Mallaghan, which manufactures ground support equipment such as baggage conveyors and stairs for commercial aircraft, is currently developing an airport bus and is actively pursuing opportunities for its products in US and China.

Ryanair reduction follows bad summer for Shannon

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Shannon blow

Ryanair latest airline to cut routes at Shannon

yanair has axed a number of routes from Shannon adding to previous setbacks caused by the loss of routes form Norwegian and Air Canada.

It has been described as a “major blow” to the region. The airline will no longer fly to Bristol, East Midlands Airport and Ibiza from next January.

A written statement from Shannon airport said; “Ryanair is a valued air-

line partner and we understand the turbulent global economic climate that the aviation industry is facing.

Ryanair will continue to operate 15 routes and carry 775,000 passengers from Shannon in 2020, and we are actively engaging with all our airline partners to explore opportunities to attract new Shannon services.”

Cork will have a good bit of growth, Kenny Jacobs said. “It will grow from 1m to 1.1m customers.

There will be cuts in Shannon and Knock, modest enough reductions there.”

Shannon has already this year lost the Norwegian services to Providence and Newark and the Air Canada service to Toronto, all as a result of the grounding of the Boeing 737MAX. Ryanair base closures in Spain have resulted in them keeping a second aircraft at Cork to operate their Spanish routes over winter.

ARAN ISLAND SEVICE TO STAY AT INVERIN

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oinn na Gaeltachta have agreed a price for Aerfort na Minne/ Connemara Airport with the founder of Aer Árann Padraig O Ceidigh.

The Department now

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has to make a business case for the acquisition.

The original deadline for the deal was end of March last.

The current interim contract with Galway Aviation Service, Aer Árann Islands, for oper-

ating services expires the end of this month.

Minister Seán Kyne says his Department is working to ensure there will be no break in the service and that a new contract will be in place soon.

Padraig O Ceidigh

A320NEO SAFETY DIRECTIVE

irlines using the A320neo have been informed of a safety directive limiting the centre of gravity envelope by the flight regulator

EASA. BA now has to block the last one or two rows of the aircraft. EasyJet says it has changed how it loads luggage onto the plane instead

of blocking seats.

Australia’s competition regulator has issued draft approval for Virgin Australia’s application to deepen its partnership

with Virgin Atlantic on services between Australia and Britain and Ireland via Hong Kong, Los Angeles and any other future mutual connecting points.

CORK

1st April 2020 The Imperial Hotel

DUBLIN

76 South Mall, T12 A2YT

EXHIBITOR PROFILE • Health Resorts & Spas

• Airports

• International Hotels/Resorts

• Attraction Tickets

• Insurance

• Bed Banks

• Media

• Car Rental

• National/Regional Tourist Organisations

• Destination Marketing • Ferries • Financial Services including Credit Cards

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

VISITOR PROFILE

• Airlines

• Cruise Companies

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

• Golf Resorts and Related Services

• Trade Associations

• Ground Handling

• Tour Operators

• Travel Agents

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

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 34

GLOBAL VILLAGE

Inside the Travel Business

TRAVEL CENTRES CEO & founder of Bubblebum & EY Entrepreneur of the Year will be the keynote speaker at the Travel Centres for their 15th annual conference on November 8th and 9th in Killashee House.

Other speakers include n Charlie Huxley of Innovate XL ‘Panning for Gold Using Creativity as a Competitive Tool’ n Adam Weatherley of ISME n Juan Bueso Lawyer for the European Consumer Centre speaking on the Package Travel Directive n Dermott Jewell Policy & Council Advisor for the Consumers’ Association of Ireland.

TRAVEL COUNSELLORS Ireland has the second highest proportion of Gold Travel Counsellors. Five of the company’s nine Gold Travel Counsellors celebrated their achievements at a five-star resort in Mauritius last month, while the others had travelled to Marbella earlier in the summer.

Those with ‘Gold’ Travel Counsellors status in Ireland are Mary Foyle, Sarah McCarthy, Mandy Walsh, Lorraine Lawless, Rosemary Chawke, Emer McDermott, Roger Barrett, Robert Kiernan and Jennifer O’Brien.

With 82 Travel Counsellors now running their own businesses in Ireland including high profile recruit ,recent recruit Katrina McMullan 11pc have the prestigious ‘Gold’ status.

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.

PRINCESS Cruises hosted agents on four ship visits in three ports over two days for the trade, Travel Counsellors, Cassidy Travel and TUI on the 3,560-passenger Regal Princess, 100 on the 3,080-guest Crown Princess in Dublin, Regal Princess in Cork and the 670-passenger Pacific Princess in Waterford.

Princess then hosted 100 agents taking part in a game of ‘bingo loco’ in Dublin.

SKAL The 80th Skal International World

Congress was hosted by the Miami Skal Club and took place on the Royal Caribbean’s cruise ship “Symphony of the Seas” on a seven day cruise of the with 600 delegates from 42 countries represented. Ireland was represented

by Nora Cronin and Deirdre Barry, Cork and Jim Dunne and Margaret Cahill, Kerry. It was reported that Skål believes the decline in membership has stopped. European membership is still the biggest with 4843 or around 35% of the total membership of 14,200.

Next year’s Congress will be held in the Kvarner Region of Croatia on the 15th – 20th October

AER LINGUS

corporate help desk is now being routed through to the Philippines.

Agents have raised concerns about average wait times.

Paul Hackett with Royal Caribbean’s Best cruise performance ROW award received at the Cliff House

Royal accolades

Cruise line honours trade at Cliff House Ardmore

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oyal Caribbean. recognised their key Irish agents at an event in the Cliff House Hotel in Ardmore.

Launched in 1969, Royal Caribbean celebrated their 50th anniversary and the fifth birthday of their Club Rewards scheme.

Award winners were: n Best Cruise Performance Europe 2018, Worldchoice Ireland n Best Cruise Performance Caribbean 2018, Tour America n Best Cruise Performance ROW 2018, Click&Go

n Best Retail Outlet 2018, Cassidy Travel – The Pavillions n Outstanding Contribution Award 2018 Southern Ireland, Sunway n Outstanding Contribution Award 2018 Northern Ireland, Oasis Travel Royal Caribbean’s Head of Ireland, Jennifer Callister said new to cruises category has an average age of 45 and represents 31pc of the overall Royal Caribbean users. Out of Ireland 45pc of cruisers chose the Mediterranean while 40pc book the Caribbean.

New trade initiatives and incentives announced at the event include: n Digital Mastercards for Club Rewards Members: n Rewards Now In Euro for Club Rewards members in Ireland, up to €10.00 for every booking n Double Holiday Spending Money : on agents’ own holidays onboard n New Training platform, L.E.A.R.N (Learn Everything About Royal Now!): n Charity Incentive: an opportunity to make a donation to select charities.

BUSINESS EXHIBITIONS APPOINT NEW CEO

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aria Hourican has been appointed CEO of Business Exhibitions.

Maria has been a familiar sight at the

Holiday World show and Irish Travel Industry Awards. She joined Business Exhibitions as accounts manager in 2009 and spearheaded the expansion of the

business into the annual Irish Travel Industry Awards and the Irish Travel Trade Show.

Earlier in her career she worked in a family architectural practice.

Maria Hourican

MARTIN JOINS EMIRATES HOLIDAYS

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mirates Holidays will be headed up by Martin Penrose as it reaches out to the Irish Travel Trade in the coming months.

The amove to dealing with the tradet follows a successful year of operation in Ireland, during

which time the company has been selling direct to consumers.

The company tailorm a d e , premium holiday packages to Dubai and beyond.

Emirates Holidays, which acts independently of

Emirates airline*, will be extending the facility for travel agents nationwide to book Emirates Holidays’ packages on behalf of their customers commencing Autumn 2019.

The bookings will be made via a call centre of dedicated destination experts or online through the Emirates Holidays agent portal.

The new B2B channel will complement existing distribution and lead to increased bookings both online with trade partners and through their call centres.

All holidays will include return economy flights with Emirates and a hotel stay as standard.

Agents can guarantee their customer’s holiday with a deposit of €100pp.

u

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 35

Inside the Travel Business

GLOBAL VILLAGE TRAVEL TRADE SHOW

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.

Maureen Ledwith, ITAA President John Spollen and Sharon Jordan of the Travel Corporation.

Awards countdown

Travel Corporation headline sponsor of 2020 awards

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he Travel Corporation will be the headline sponsor for tenth annual Irish Travel Industry Awards with broadcaster Bryan Dobson as MC, in the Round Room at the Mansion House, Dublin, on Thursday, January 23 2020.

Pre-dinner drinks will be served in Café en Seine, sponsored by AM Resorts before the evening formally begins in the Round Room. Ticket enquiries can be made to Maria@ bizex.ie.

Organised on behalf of the Irish Travel Agents Association by Business Exhibitions, the prestigious awards will return for its tenth consecutive year next January to celebrate excellence among leading travel professionals and suppliers in Ireland.

The Supplier Awards feature a number of categories spanning all

areas and disciplines of the travel industry including air travel, tour operators, cruise lines and ferry companies, agency services providers and destinations.

The ITAA Member Awards highlight the excellent contribution that ITAA Travel Agents and their staff make to travel distribution in Ireland.

Award categories will be announced soon!

Pat Dawson, CEO of the ITAA, commented, On behalf of the ITAA Board and members, we are delighted to have The Travel Corporation onboard as headline sponsor for our next three Irish Travel Industry Awards ceremonies. The Travel Corporation team in Ireland, led by Sharon Jordan, have demonstrated enormous support to the travel industry and the vast range of outstanding products benefit Irish holidaymakers

every day.

Sharon Jordan, Country Manager of The Travel Corporation, commented, The Irish Travel Industry Awards is a deserved opportunity to reflect on the achievements of Ireland’s travel professionals and The Travel Corporation’s family of brands including Insight Vacations, Luxury gold, Uniworld Boutique River Cruises, U River Cruises, Trafalgar, Costsaver and The Red Carnation Hotels to name a few brands are proud to be a part of this. Our industry has demonstrated considerable strength and resilience over the last decade and this would not be possible without the continued efforts from travel agents and suppliers. Travel professionals are urged to save the date and check out the limited early release tickets available to sponsors and returning attendees.

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way in 1968, will take on the role of the company’s new Executive Chairman concentrating on Sunway’s future strategic development.

Mary Denton brings a strong track record of commercial and oper-

ational execution.

Her career in Sunway began in 2008, rising through the ranks to leading Sunways European business as GM. Earlier in her career, Mary established Omni Tours.

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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.

1.1bn Commission for Aviation Regu-

lation figrues indicate €1.1bn turnover for Irish travel agents in 2018 as part of its 2018 Annual Report. The travel industry employs 3,500 people across Ireland, travel agents are engaged in all aspects of overseas travel including leisure, corporate, activity holidays and destination weddings, among others.

EIMER HANNON, founder of

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

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.

WORLDCHOICE Networking

MARY DENTON OPENS NEW ERA FOR SUNWAY

he appointment of Mary Denton as the new Chief Executive Officer ushers in a new era for tour operators Sunway.

Former CEO Tanya Airey, whose father Jim Furlong founded Sun-

SKAL New Skal President elected at the world congress will be Peter Morrison from Christchurch, New Zealand, vice President is Bill Rheaume, Canadian Rockies, Canada and director is Burcin Turkkan, Atlanta, USA. Returning to the Executive Committee are senior Vice President: Teresa Diaz Comas, Girona, Spain, Fiona McFarlane, Cairns, Australia and Vijay Mohan, Hyderabad, India. Peter Morrison will attend English Skål Assembly 2020 in Portsmouth April 17th – 19th . His daughter works and lives in Dublin.

Event & Christmas Party at the Radisson Blu Royal in Dublin on Saturday 23rd November will host 120 members and 70 Trade Partners who will represent 55 travel brands.

Details will be available on the Worldchoice App available to download nearer the date.

Carol Anne O’Neill Commercial Manager of Worldchoice said “2020 will see us return to a full scale conference. We will be announcing venue and date in the coming weeks.”

CSO figures show Trips abroad from IreMary Denton

land in Ireland were up 11.9pc to 973,600.

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 36

Last month in numbers

u3bn Debt on the books of Thomas Cook on date of its failure.

150.3m Number of

passengers carried by Ryanair in the 12 months to August.

14.1m Number of passengers carried by Ryanair in t August.

9m Number of passengers carried by Aer Lingus in year to September, up 3pc.

600k Number of Thomas Cook customers who had to be repatriated.

14,200 Number of Skal members worldwide.

500 Number of hotels in Spain which had to

close as a result of Tomas Cook failure

4 Number of new Ryanair routes for summer 2020, down from 20 in 2019.

WINDOW SEAT

ICY SAGAS COME BACK TO LIFE

H

iking under black-bellied storm clouds, I tramped past Gunnar’s Rock, a knobbly riverside prominence where he fought off an ambush.

Above bristling fields soars Þríhyrningur (Three Peak Mountain), plunging down to slopes of tuff stone. Beyond an icy river, a path winds between beryl-green hills and waterfalls, an area known locally as Flosi’s dale, after one of the tale’s antagonists. I slept that night in a hoop of corrugated iron next to a church, and woke to a chorus of snipe.

Nicholas Jubber brings to life the sagas of Iceland and of other

Epic Continent: Adventures in the Great Stories of Europe by Nicholas Jubber, is published by John Murray,

European countries, and reminds us how closely wed they are to the landscape.

In Þingvellir, the “fields of parliament”, in the south-west of Iceland, as he passes through the Gate of the Moon from the Eyrie in Game of Thrones we are reminded how the real tales are often better than the CG version.

A flagpole rises from a ledge credited as the “rock of law”, over the natural amphitheatre in which

medieval lawyers such as Njál brokered their cases and established the world’s first elected parliament.

Njal is the author of Njál’s Saga, an epic that includes one of the few contemporaneous accounts of the battle of Clontarf.

Downhill from the mountain, a church spikes over a graveyard, where the heroine’s name is inscribed under welts of lichen on the tomb traditionally ascribed to her.

It is a poetic tribute to another age.

Stellenbosch and Aamakhala: mark Clifford’s favourite country

Busman’s holiday: Mark Clifford

Every month we ask a leading travel professional to write about their personal holiday experience. This month: Mark Clifford of O’Hanrahan’s Travel

W

hat a privileged life we live in the Travel Trade. For all its difficulties with licencing, professional indemnity insurance, profit margins, weather disruptions, the list goes on.

We get to go places that I could have only dreamed about when I was a kid.

A

Indeed, my first flight was at the age of sixteen on a Shorts 360 aircraft from exotic Belfast City to even more exotic Glasgow. Sitting up front in row one just a sheet of wallpaper away from the captain, sipping orange juice from a plastic glass I thought I’d made it.

As I look back on my trips since and there have been a few, one destination sticks out above all others. One destination has called me back on four occa-

sions now and each time it just keeps on giving. From the people to the history, the scenery to the cuisine South Africa for me has it all.

Not many counties offer the eclectic mix of luxury accommodation with food to match, stupendous safari, wonderful wine tours, great golf courses and I have not even left the Cape yet.

Take the ferry to Robben Island where the Mighty Mandela spent eighteen of his twenty seven years in prison and I dare you not to be moved while standing in his tiny cell pondering on his past. Later dinner in Baia Restaurant on the V&A and pints at €2 for supper!

Drive the Garden Route via Stellen-

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

month after the collapse of Thomas Cook, the cost of failure looks as severe as feared. In Spain 500 hotels will have to close.

Failure was not inevitable, nor does it prove, as some media claim, the package model is broken. Incompetence and hubris in the boardroom look to be the direct causes. Peter Fankhauser, in post for four years, and Frank Meysman, chairman since 2011, must

explain why they didn’t fix a fragile balance sheet when it seemed possible.

The stock market valued Thomas Cook’s equity at £2bn as late as May 2018. Shareholders would not have cheered a rights issue but directors could have taken the long view: repay some debt, lower the interest costs and allow more investment in new, company-owned hotels, the focus of the turnaround strategy.

Given that Thomas Cook itself almost failed in 2011, reducing debt should have been the absolute priority. The most astonishing statistic in the whole saga is that the company paid £1.2bn in interest charges after 2010.

In the end, even a £200m contribution from British coffers to a wider creditor-led £1.1bn restructuring plan might not have been enough.

bosch, Oudtshoorn, Knysna and watch the clouds rolling over the mountains and the stunning scenery as you go.

Stop in Arbella for eighteen holes before you reach Port Elizabeth the home of the Anti-Apartheid movement. Then east to Shamwari, Kareiga, Amakhala Game Reserves.

Ttake your pick of the World’s most wonderful wildlife right in front of you.

Still troubled but fighting through the spirit on Mandela lives on in the people and this fantastic country. I still have so much more to explore and can’t wait to return.

Put it on your list, you won’t be disappointed.

IN YOUR DECEMBER TRAVEL EXTRA: Available to Travel Agents or online November 18 2019

WEDDINGS ISSUE Italy Spain WEDDING TRENDS Escorted tours

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 37

MEETING PLACE

Out and about with the Travel Trade

oole Tours and Caroline O’T an- Sarah Appleton and Katharine Prior of Travel Ben Greene of Arrow @M nt Counsellors pictured at the Etihad and Tourism eve nch lau ski t of Fahy Travel, Topfligh Thailand evening in Red Torch Ginger chester,

Onur Gul of Turkish Air lines and Maura Fahy of Fahy Travel, Fahy Tra vel & Corrib Travel exp o in Salthill Hotel, Galway

airport before ski launch Topflight team at Dublin auna Kelly, Maurice event @Manchester, Sh n and Yasmine Dennis rso Shiels, Michelle Ande

Jamie Airey of Sunway receives the overallprize from Dermot Merrigan , Pye of Irish Ferries, Tra Marie McCarthy and Ann vel Industry Golf Socie ty

ut Court Hotels pictured Lisa Mushamp of Cocon of Escape Marketing. yer ma with Sian Jangreuth

David O’Grady of E-trav of Bindlestiff tours, La el and Robert Graff s Vegas CVA event for owners/managers, Me rrion hotel, Dublin

Eleanor Erel and Roisin Carbery of Tropical Sky enjoying the Barbados coctails and Caribbean tu nes.

Ayisha Rixon and Hayley French of LA Tourism with Cynthia Schmitt of Citadel, Visit California event at the Alex

Hasan Mutlu and Tunca Airlines present the win y Eminoglu of Turkish nin Ginley of Aercap, Turkis g trophy to Joseph Mch Airlines golf event,

bhan urism Ireland with Sio Audrey McNevin of To M/Delta at the Visit Sa/KL Scanlon of Air France x Hotel Ale e Th in nt eve h na van

Kathryn MacDonnell of The Spanish Tourist Board and Robbie Sm art of Camino Ways, Fa Travel & Corrib Travel hy expo in Salthill Hotel

Aoife Fee and Fiona Cunningham, TourismNI event at the 148th British Open in Portrush, July 19 2019

ssic Collection and MiNiall McDonnell of Cla vel, Travel Partners roadTra KT of n chelle Morga show, Dundalk,

Eileen Sutton of RTE and Grant Daley of Universal, Visit California event at the Alex

Audrey Headon of He ad ceives the Category 1 on Representation relad Merrigan of Irish Ferrie ies prize from Dermot s,

Fiona Dobbyn and Karen Whyte of Classic Resorts.

Healy, Andrew Lynch, r, Martina Coogan, Sean yn Davis, Gillian Purse rol Nicola Churchill l, Ca we Bo hael Darren Yeates and Mic

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 38

MEETING PLACE

Out and about with the Travel Trade

anne Ciaran Mulligan, The Fabulous Traveller, pictured Ciara Foley of Platinum Travel pictur onohue Travel and Le ed Aoife Rednond of O’D vel, Topflight ski launch wth Karen Maloney of Etihad enjoying some pre Spadonir of the Westin Savannah Ha with Mark rour at the dinner drinks at the Etihad and Thailand evening Visit Savannah Lunch Mulcahy Of Limerick Tra r, ste che an @M event

Josie Di Matteo of E-T rav vadee Khunsub, Direct el pictured with Chiraor the Etihad and Tourism of Tourism Thailand at Thailand Thai eveninng

Khatia Tchamiashvili and Olesea Ceciltan of Classic Resorts at the Barbados roadhow

lsh m Travel and Janice Wa Helen Kelly of Platinu India Tourism Roadat of Travel Counsellors show in Dublin,

Shane Clarke of Touri nette sm Ireland pictured wit USIT pictured with An d Elizabeth Lopez,Taylor McKinley and Pauline h Pritpal Singh, General Sarune Zerauskaite of d an ha Eti the at s lor sel Manager of The Perry un Bouras of Canariaways pictured with a giant Tou- Lane McCann of Travel Co Ho tel, at the Vis nt it Savannah event eve can at the Canariaways launch in House Tourism Thailand Thai

Joann Raleigh of ASM, Jason Whelan of Blue Insurances and Alann a Byrne of MSC, Travel Partners roadshow, Du ndalk,

n of Travel, Angela Hayde Lisa Warren of Killiney d an vel tra y line Kil of rne Naas Travel, Linda By Travel, g Christine Fenton of Kin

Jamie Airey of Sunway receives the overallprize from Dermot Merrigan , Pye of Irish Ferries, Tra Marie McCarthy and Ann vel Industry Golf Socie ty

Amanda Whelan of Cassidy Travel and Brenda Keane of Garda Holiday Club, Topflight ski launch event @Manchester,

Cheryl Carter, UK Director of Barbados Tourism & Marketing pictured with Marc McCollin, of Barbados Tourism & Marketing.

Brigid Hayes of Bowe Travel and Emma McCarthy of Barters, Topflight ski launch event @ Manchester,

ner bed draws the prize win Lee Osborne of Booka Whelan of Blue Insuron form a box held by Jas roadshow, Dundalk, ances, Travel Partners

Marian Benton of Map Travel receives third pri from Marie McCarthy, Ann Pye and Dermot ze Merrigan of Irish Ferries, Tra vel Industry Golf Socie t

A Midway and Anish Joy Joseph Wagstaff of US lifornia event at the Alex of Oscar travel , Visit Ca

NOVEMBER 2019 PAGE 39

Out and about with the Travel Trade

allaghan’s Travel and Antoinette Murphy of O’C , Topflight ski launch vel Sarah Kelly of Best4tra event @Manchester,

Kathryn McDonnell of the pictured with Bernie Bu Spanish Tourism Office rke the Canariaways launch of Travel Centres at in House

MEETING PLACE

Karen Maloney and Shannon O’Dowd of Ettihad Annette McCann of Travel Counsellor s collec sponsors of best dressed award at the National her prize of a 3 night stay in Barbados courte ting sy of Coconut Court Hotels .

Ploughing Championship with winner Liz Farrell

Niamh Shortt, Lynda Fitzgerald and Ivana Iles of Club Travel.

TourismNI and Fiona John McGrillen CEO of office of TourismNI, blin Du the Cunningham of Open in Portrush, tish Bri TourismNI event at the

Las Volker Lorenz, Ruben Lopez-Bulido, Director of Niamh Cullinane of Ba vel and Katja Spitz of rter Travel Jeff Collins of Best4Tra CVA event for owners/ the SpanishTourism Office andRoland Monsegu Duffy of Cassidy Travel, Turkis and Caitriona s ga Ve s h Airlines and S La A, Vegas CV Africa Tourism visit to all pictured at the Canariaways launch Western Cape, tel, Dublin, July 1 2019 managers, Merrion ho

Donagh McCarthy of Le e Travellers Secrets and Travel, Jon Arnold of John O’Brien of Justsp Topflight ski launch eve lit, nt @Manchester,

Martina Forde of Travel Counsellors,Caroline O’Toole of Fahy Travel and Ben Green of Arrow Travel, Topflight ski launch event

Tl, Adam Goddard of Angela Hayden of Naas y t, Christine Fenton of line Kil of rld TTC, Linda Byrne n of Killiney T on Uniwo King Tl and Lisa Warre

Yvonne Lennox of WT ur, Robbie Smart of Camino Ways, Des Abbott of C rec Westin Savannah Harbo fro m Marie McCarthy, An eives first prize ladies Mark Spadoni,GMr of Des Abbott Travel and Carol Anne O’Neill of n Py vannah and Prital Sa it Vis of , elli rig rin an Ma of Irish Ferries, Travel e and Dermot MerJoseph Worldchoice Ireland, Travel Industry Golf Society vannah Sa it Industry Golf Society Vis at ne La rry Singh, of the Pe

Mark Henry of Tourism Ire Day event at the US Em land, Independence bassy, July 3 2019

Onur Gul of Turkish Airlines and John Grehan of G Adventures, Fahy Travel & Corrib Travel expo in Salthill Hotel, Galway

, Byrne of Killiney travel Lisa Warren and Linda iworld cruise for WorldTravel Corporation & UnSS Bon Voyage. choice agents on board