ISSUE 326 | JULY/AUGUST 2022
www.nitravelnews.com
WIN WIN WIN
WIN FLIGHTS TO CANADA FROM DUBLIN AIRPORT WITH...
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THE BIG TRAVEL BOUNCE BACK
cast your vote in the ni travel & toursm awards and you could win one of FOUR great prizes!
overnight stay for two at the GRAND CENTRAL HOTEL, BELFAST
winan See Page 16 to enter... WINan
overnight stay for two in the ac MARRIOTT hotel, belfast
See Page 22 to enter... By ERIN ENGLISH
As the seemingly final wave breaks on the Covid-19 pandemic, travellers are prepped and packed to head off a new and exciting adventure. Full cruise fleets once again set sail for spectacular horizons and airlines continue to expand with new routes that allow holidaymakers to jet off to their much-loved holiday destinations. Travel seems to be on the up, with travel agents reporting a steady increase in bookings as countries begin to move away from restrictions and entry requirements.
head off on their holidays. Regardless of if its holiday spent relaxing in the sun or an adventurous trip to
A
fter a turbulent two years, 2022 has been a year filled with hope for the travel industry. Many travellers have been waiting in anticipation to
one of their bucket-list destinations, tour operators have reported a significant increase in bookings. G Adventures’ recently recorded July 2022 to have the highest number of trips operating since the onset of the pandemic with more than 1,300 trips in over 50 countries departing throughout the course of the month - a trend that is rapidly progressing throughout the industry. Jet2 and Jet2Holidays reported a rise in 2022 booking numbers following the removal of pre-departure testing back in January 2022, further emphasised by the removal of passenger locator forms and testing for unvaccinated travellers in March of this year. Since then, figures for the tour operator have sky-rocketed as holidaymakers jet off to discover the various destinations that Jet2 offer. Speaking at Northern Ireland Travel News’ Big Travel Trade Event 2022, Alan Cross, Head of Trade at Jet2holidays stated that, “this year is going to be successful- We’re looking to [20]23, we’ve got to look ahead to that, and all signs are it’s going to be a bumper year again.” Similar results can be seen for luxury tour operator, Beachcomber Tours. Beachcomber Tours highlighted that while the Covid-19 pandemic was tough for the travel industry since the easing of restrictions, booking numbers for Beachcomber have bounced back. Martin Maclaren, Regional Sales Manager for Beachcomber Tours commented, “recovery for Beachcomber Tours has been incredible, we thought it would take two or three years to come back to where it was. However, after January of this year, we are back to where we were. January was the biggest month we’ve had on record in the history of the company. Business is booming. This year has been incredible, the support from the trade has been incredible, and moving forward things are looking really really good.” Following two years of uncertainty, the Travel
Industry continues to find it’s feet as reopening and reinstatements progress. In line with added demand, airlines and airports have increased services and routes. With a wide range of new networks available from locations accessible to the Northern Ireland and ROI Market. Airlines and Airports remain committed to ensure that travellers depart on holidays without a hitch. Aer Lingus have expanded their offering for the Northern Ireland market, as their regional network continues to expand from Belfast City Airport. In
2022, Aer Lingus broadened their regional services significantly with added routes from Belfast City to Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds Bradford, Manchester, Glasgow, and Exeter announced earlier this year. More recently, Aer Lingus have added to their regional network from Belfast City with the announcement of routes to Southampton and Cardiff from July 7. Speaking in regards to the increase of Aer Lingus’
regional services from Belfast City Airport, Ellie McGimpsey, Aviation Development Manager at Belfast City Airport, commented “Aer Lingus Regional’s base at Belfast City Airport has been operational for just over three months and we are thrilled to already see expansion in both the number of routes served by the airline and the frequency of its services.” Alongside this, Aer Lingus continue to develop the connection between Ireland and the United States as flights to America are reinstated departing from Dublin Airport. Aer Lingus reinstated services to Seattle, Philadelphia, Los Angeles alongside other transatlantic routes including New York JFK, Newark, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Orlando, Washington D.C, and Toronto. Aer Lingus’ route between Dublin and Miami is also set to return in October 2022. Catching up with Liza Hammond at the Big Travel
Trade Event, Liza emphasised that, “For Aer Lingus, in terms of recovery. We are operating 90 percent of our schedule for summer, which is good. Most of our routes are all back online. Seattle is coming back in July and Miami is coming back in October. So we are now back to offering fourteen direct services from Dublin, and we have launched all our new Manchester services, including Manchester to Orlando and JFK.” “There is no doubt that people are booking. We are
seeing more positivity. The bounce back is here,” she added. The expansion of airlines and expectations of a
positive summer ahead is a view echoed by City of Derry Airport as Managing Director, Steve Frazer expressed, “We are expecting a busy summer at City of Derry Airport with our Travel Solutions’ summer holidays to the Algarve and Majorca taking off from 29th June, as well as our Loganair services to London, Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh, and our Ryanair Continued on Page 3...
WIN a
midweek stay at the dunadry hotel & gardens
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overnight stay for two in the SLIEVE DONARD, NEWCASTLE
See Page 12 to enter... trade only vote
PICTURE SPECIAL: Check out all the images from The BIG Travel Trade Event AND The NI Travel & Tourism Awards Launch 2022 INSIDE (pages 35-49)
travel trade can now cast their vote in the agents only category to win two tickets to the northern ireland travel & tourism awards 2022
See Page 37 to enter...
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