Travel News July/August 2019
UPDATE 3 I
Canada holds signifi cant potential for tourism in Province
N 2018 almost 66,000 Canadians visited Northern Ireland on holiday, spending almost £19 million. In fact, Canada was the Province’s fourth largest overseas tourism market.
More than 525,000 passengers travelled to Canada from Dublin Airport in 2018 and due to this Dublin has now increased the number of routes and services to Canada to deal with the surge in passenger numbers. Tourism Ireland believes Canada has signifi cant potential for Northern Ireland tourism and after their recent research into this they have positioned the Province as a ‘must see’ part of an island of Ireland vacation for Canadian visitors.
Shane Clarke, Corporate Services Director for Tourism Ireland doesn’t believe not having a direct fl ight to Belfast has hindered its popularity with Canadian tourists, but that they “would continue to work and support any airline seeking a direct route”. He told Northern Ireland Travel News: “Market research has shown Canadians are happy to travel distances, and with Dublin Airport being only one hour away from Northern Ireland, this would not be a problem to most Canadian holidaymakers to travel onward to Northern Ireland.”
He added: “Tourism Ireland will continue to work and support any airline seeking a direct route from Canada direct to Belfast, but this is a commercial decision for any airline.”
Dublin Airport now has 39 Canadian fl ights and connections per week. They also now have a an array of destinations with fl ights into Calgary, Halifax, Montreal, Toronto-Hamilton, Toronto-Pearson and Vancouver over with fi ve diff erent airlines. In 2005 low-cost transatlantic operator Zoom Airlines began operations in Northern Ireland, with fl ights to Canada every Wednesday. In 2008 the company announced its new Belfast - Canada route that fl ew to Toronto twice a week and to Vancouver weekly. Then, almost overnight, all fl ights were cancelled by the airline and in the winter of 2008 the company announced it was going into administration. Northern Ireland has not had a direct fl ight to Canada since, that’s just over 10
BY HANNAH DELANEY
years without a direct connection to one of our largest tourism markets.
As we get closer to the eventual conclusion on Brexit some questions still remain. Will this type of travel still be a viable option for Northern Ireland’s travellers and sightseers? Will it be harder for Canadians to travel into Belfast through Dublin if a hard border is put in place between the two jurisdictions?
Shane Clarke adds a note about Brexit diffi culties stating: “Tourism Ireland is continuing to monitor the challenges Brexit may bring in the future.” Ultimately the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland want to continue to share their Canadian ties as both of their economies benefi t greatly from visits each year and Tourism Ireland says it will be promoting Northern Ireland in the future to the Canadian market.
Siobhan McManamy, Tourism Ireland’s Director of Markets; Dana Welch, Tourism Ireland’s Manager Canada; and Alison Metcalfe, Tourism Ireland’s Head of North America, at the launch of Tourism Ireland’s new research on the Canadian market, in the Grand Central Hotel Belfast
Jet2.com and Jet2holiday’s Deny Interest in Thomas Cook
JET2.COM and Jet2holidays CEO Steve Heapy has refuted claims that
Jet2.com and Jet2holidays are interested in purchasing Thomas Cook’s airline or Thomas Cook’s retail business.
Steve Heapy, CEO of
Jet2.com and Jet2holidays said: In response to Miles Morgan’s comments in Travel Weekly (27th June), we would like to confi rm that
Jet2.com and Jet2holidays have no interest in either Thomas Cook’s airline or Thomas Cook’s retail business.
“We continue to enjoy enormous success through our award-winning airline,
Jet2.com, and this Summer we will operate our biggest ever programme with 100 aircraft fl ying to exciting sun and city destinations across Europe from nine UK bases.
“Through our successful package holiday business, Jet2holidays, we have developed fantastic relationships
with independent travel agents, who are an integral part of our long-term distribution strategy. Our whole approach to working with these agents is based on a partnership model, so that we can support them to increase sales and grow their businesses. We are absolutely committed to this partnership approach which is why we have no plans or need to purchase any existing Thomas Cook shops or open our own retail shops in the high street,” he continued.
“Let me make this clear, our focus is on continuing to foster close working relationships with independent travel agents through our ‘Partnership2Success’ strategy. This includes supporting agents through a range of initiatives such as joint marketing activity, taking agents out into their communities, sponsoring industry events, delivering our Earn Your Wings training programme, running VIP FAM trips, and
Steve Heapy, CEO
Jet2.com and
Jet2holidays.com
hosting our annual VIP Travel Agent Conference. “Through our award-winning trade sales team, which now numbers 20 colleagues, we look forward to continuing to deliver more mutually benefi cial success in partnership with independent travel agents across the UK,” he added.
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