TRAVEL AGENTS are reporting a “major surge” in holiday bookings in recent days and claim the expected trend towards “staycations” has not materialised.
However, Fáilte Ireland questioned the reports and said its websites were being inundated with inquiries from Irish people about holidaying at home.
Budget Travel, which is the State’s biggest tour operator, said it had noticed a major surge in family holiday bookings this week.
In the past two weeks, bookings were up by 14 per cent when compared with the same period last year.
And bookings were up by 22 per cent on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, when compared with last year.
“Majorca, Salou and Portugal are particularly in demand,” said Clem Walshe, Budget Travel’s head of marketing.
He said families who were planning a so-called “staycation” this year were changing their minds because of the bad weather of recent weeks.
“Parents are not willing to be held to ransom by the Irish weather with rain, rain and more rain forecast up until the end of July,” he said.
The Irish Travel Agents’ Association said this experience was echoed by its members.
Its chief executive Simon Nugent said the evidence was anecdotal and travel agents were reporting a rush of bookings in the past 10 days or so.
The inclement weather seemed to be a major factor in the last minute rush to book a holiday, he said.
However, Fáilte Ireland’s director of regional development John Concannon said its research suggested that people were sticking with their plan to cut back on shorter overseas breaks in favour of home breaks.
Research commissioned by Fáilte Ireland earlier this year found that 23 per cent of people were planning to reduce spending on foreign holidays this year, but just 10 per cent of people said they would spend less on home holidays.
He said it was far too early to say if the trend towards “staycations” had materialised this summer as August would be the key month for holidaymakers. But he said there were some very positive indicators.
A new “Discover Ireland” website of special offers had attracted some 200,000 visitors from Ireland in the past seven weeks, he said. “That’s a huge response and a very good sign,” he said. “
Mr Concannon said it was always going to be a very challenging summer for tourism operators.
The trend towards last-minute booking of holidays at home and abroad was expected, due to the uncertain financial situation.
He said the Irish tourist trade was suffering due to a reduction in visitors from Britain and the US, but continental Europe was holding up.
Accommodation prices in this State have fallen by 15 per cent on average this year, so while more people might be holidaying at home, revenue would be down due to the reduced prices, he added.
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