SUMMER 2011 will see additional routes to sun destinations from Dublin, Cork and Knock. Dublin will have a route to Dalaman in Turkey; while Cork will see Crete and Egypt on the timetables; and Knock will have a new service to Verona in Italy.
At the annual meeting of the Irish Tour Operators Association, the president, Kevin Nolan, said, “there will be cautious to modest growth for next year, but the concept of late deals will be gone. Yield will be the most important factor for all operators.” Consumers are being encouraged to book early to take advantage of best deals.
The package holiday market has been badly hit by the downturn in business, falling from around one million seats in 2006 to less than 500,000 this year. Budget Travel was the biggest tour operator to fail in the past year along with dozens of travel agents.
The biggest growth for 2011 will be in the US market where there will be 500,000 scheduled seats on sale between May and October. The new route to Charlotte in North Carolina, operated by US Airways, is expected to carry 25,000 into the US southern states.
Tour operators are still counting the cost of the disruptions caused by the volcanic ash in April and May of this year and a final figure is yet to be calculated. Aer Lingus has 95 per cent of claims completed. The provisions of the Package Holidays and Travel Trade Act and EU 261 Regulation on air passenger rights meant that tour operators and airlines picked up the bill for the disruptions in travel plans.