The other travel stories of the week in brief...
€1bn in trade on the cards
Fáilte Ireland is looking for ambassadors to persuade international conventions to come to Ireland. With €500,000 to spend on familiarisation visits and conference proposals, it wants to generate €1 billion from business tourism by 2013. The Convention Centre Dublin, which opens in September, says it has taken more than 228,000 delegate days in booking, with a value of €71m to the economy. irelandinspires. com/conferenceambassador.
Crete flights back in air
The popular Lyda Studios and Lyda Beach aparthotels, in Crete, are taking direct bookings following the demise of Budget Travel. The company has set up a booking site, lydahotels.com (which has prices from €15pps), and arranged a Viking Airlines charter flight between Dublin and Crete each Friday from June 25th until September 17th, with an offer price of €299 return.
Our Lady’s Italian cycle
The organisers of a cycling tour of Italy in aid of Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, in Crumlin, are looking for participants. The trip, from September 11th to 18th, is based in Riccione, on the Adriatic coast in Italy’s famed cycling region of Emilia-Romagna. E-mail info@cmrf.org or call 1890-507508.
14.3
The number in millions, of people who expected to take cruise holidays this year