It is not just the bargain end of the travel market which is booming, according to Irish travel agents. Safari adventures and world cruises are among the more expensive holidays in demand.
A three-week, end-of-the-millennium cruise for two, costing more than £40,000 (#50,790), has been sold by one Dublin agent. Another said it had sold at least two safari holidays valued at £20,000-plus.
"Cruises are becoming more and more popular and more accessible," says Mr Brendan Moran, chief executive of the Irish Travel Agent's Association (ITAA). Budget Travel has increased its allocation of cruise places to 7,000 this year with prices starting from £399 per person for full board on a Mediterranean liner. "The two cruise programmes we launched last year were sold by the end of January," says Ms Niamh Hayes, marketing manager at Budget.
The Irish market is also being targeted aggressively by international cruise operators. Almost a dozen such companies have booked sites at the ITAA's Holiday World '99 exhibition next week.
Prices range from about £595 sterling per person for a five-day trip between Southampton, Spain and France with P&O to £37,280 sterling per person for a three-week millennium sojourn in the Caribbean, first class on the QE2.
The move towards greater luxury is also reflected in the allocation of more seats by the main tour operators to four- and five-star hotels and apartments. Falcon has expanded its Premier Selection programme this year with prices per person for two weeks in a four-star hotel in Lanzarote, including luxury mini-bus transport, starting at £2,548.
The ITAA's Holiday World '99 exhibition in the Simmonscourt Arena, RDS, will be opened by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, next Thursday at 6 p.m. for trade members.
It will be open to the public on Friday, January 22nd between 2 p.m. and 9 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday, January 23rd and 24th, from noon to 6 p.m. Admission £4 Friday and Saturday and £4.50 Sunday for adults; £3 for students and children free. The exhibition will move to the Silver Springs Hotel in Cork where it will be open to the public on February 6th and 7th.
