A round-up of this week's travel news in brief
Ash boosts ferry sales
Dublin Port saw a record 72,000 passengers travel in the week of the Icelandic ash crisis, when all flights were grounded. Dublin Port head Enda Connellan said that, before the volcano erupted, ferries had an image problem. “They were associated with the old emigrant boats . . . The feedback we have been getting is that many people who would not normally think of travelling by ferry were surprised at how big and comfortable the ships were.” Irish Ferries has reported a 10 per cent rise in summer bookings after the crisis. Stena Line said it carried 89,000 passengers on the Irish Sea while airspace was shut, twice as many as usual.
Adventures for families
Adventure North Wales has packages for families in search of fun this summer. It says it can create bespoke holidays for families of all sizes, with a range of self-catering accommodation for groups of up to 14. Prices are flexible, depending on the number of activities booked, but start at about €975 for a family of four. 00-44-845-3654265, adventure-northwales.com.
80.8
The amount, in billions of dollars, that Germans spent on international travel last year, ranking them top of a UN survey. In second place is the US, then the UK. China, in fourth, spent $43.7 billion.
Go contact us:
EditorOrna Mulcahy
Production editorLiam Stebbing
Contactgo@irishtimes.com, 01-6758594 or The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2
Advertising01-6758585 or advertising@irishtimes.com