The Department of Foreign Affairs has advised Irish people travelling to Spain to be vigilant as the Basque separatist movement, ETA, threatens to continue targeting major tourist locations in a summer bombing campaign. Spanish police yesterday exploded a booby-trapped car at Madrid-Barajas Airport. No one was injured, but several vehicles were damaged.
The incident follows last week's explosion outside a hotel in Salou, in which 13 people including two police officers were injured.
Despite the attacks, a spokesman for the Department said it was not recommending a ban on travel. He said, however, people should remain vigilant and follow the directions of the local authorities and the advice of travel operators.
Tour operators have reported no noticeable fall-off in demand for Spanish holidays and only a tiny number of cancellations since ETA initiated the campaign.
A spokeswoman for Falcon/ JWT said only three people, from thousands who had booked Spanish holidays with the company, had chosen to transfer to another destination.
"After the first incident happened, we told people they could change, with no extra charge, up to August 31st to another destination with similar-type accommodation. Only three took up the offer, which is very small."
She said the company would consider extending the offer were there further incidents.
"There has been very little disruption and little or no cancellations as far as we can see," she said. "There have been a few inquiries, basically people asking about the safety of travelling at the moment."
She added. "What we are telling them is what the Department is saying, which is don't cancel your travel arrangements and follow local advice."
Panorama reported a similar situation. "We haven't had any cancellations," said a company spokeswoman. "We have had one or two agents quizzing us about security and we are telling them what the Department is telling us."
She said Panorama was also offering people who felt uneasy about travelling to Spain the opportunity to change to another destination, subject to availability. However, no one had taken them up on the offer.
She noted Spain was growing in popularity as a tourism destination as it required a shorter flight-time compared to other sun spots.
