Travelwise - the ITAA Blog

The CSO reveled yesterday that spending by Irish people on international trips in the first three months (Q1) of 08 was up 17% on Q1 of 07. Apparently the number of trips was also up 14% compared to the number taken in the same period in  ‘07. While a surge like this does sound very impressive we ougth remember that Easter Sunday fell extraordinarily early - on 23 March this year so many people’s entire Easter break was taken in March.

Tricky things statistics.

One of the Financial Times’ more quirky columnists, Michael Spakinker, is musing today on an issue that often gets discussed in the Irish Travel Industry.   What  “grabs” Irish holiday makers about a destination is not neccessarily the message and campaign that has been dreamed up back home by a National or Regional Tourist Board’s advertising agency.  We are different - just as every other market is different.   It is a shame to see chunks of promotional spend wasted.  The logical solution is the development of much closer marketing partnerships between overseas tourist boards and Irish agents and tour operators - but that has to be a real partnership - where both contributors are happy with the conception and execution of the campaign.  Where the partnership is based on trust and mutual respect.   Perhpas there is a role for the ITAA in fostering such partnerships?

We are hearing reports from members that the processing of Visas in the run in to the Beijing Olympics is proving more complicated and costly than normal.   Anyone who is planning to visit mainland China (Hong Kong is not affected) this summer should take advice from an ITAA member about their visa requirements and not leave visa applications till the last minute.

It seems that the immediate problems caused by the closure of a Tour Operator (Failte Travel Ltd - not a member of the ITAA) on Friday have been addressed. Despite the fact we are now in the peak holiday season across Europe the Commission for Aviation Regulation managed to charter a plane within 12 hours of the news of the closure breaking, and to arrange for customers to be brought home roughly 24 hours later than normal. Holidaymakers were put up for the extra night in the hotels and apartments where they had been staying. No one was left sleeping in the airports.

Undoubtedly many holiday makers suffered considerable inconvenience - but given the circumstances things seem to have been managed reasonably well.

Things are clearly much better this morning. Delays on most flights so far are trivial. While there is still scope for things to go pear shaped later in the day, the prophesys of doom from Michael O’Leary on the radio this morning are not being born out. If you want to get a sense of what exactly is happening flights take a look at this page which shows real time flight arrivals. (Arrivals reveals much more about what will happen later in the day .)

This morning the IIA are saying they are operating at 80% - which may not sound great but in fact, it is plenty to handle the airport’s demand during most hours of the day.

Michael O’Leary was predicting on Morning Ireland today that there would be more trouble tomorrow morning given the number of charter flight departures. However, this seems unlikely as the weekend peaks are less accute.

We look forward to sight of the report on what went wrong that has been sought by Minister Dempsey from the IIA. We can not remember a similar ATC shut down anywhere in Europe caused by technical fault. (Strikes are a different matter.)

It’s hard to make sense of what exactly caused the collapse of the system in Dublin Airport on Wednesday.

• One can’t help wondering whether the fact that engineers from Thales - the system providers - were actually on site in Dublin at the time was realted to the outage? Were some tests being run that might have been better run at a period of low traffic?
• In the Dail yesterday Fine Gael Spokesman, James O’Reilly TD, suggested that the problems with ATC have been caused by a software upgrade installed in recent weeks.  Is this the case?
• This morning Micheal O’Leary suggested that a better ATC service could have been run out of Shannnon - though the IAA later disputed this.  Who is right?

One positive thing that has come out of this is that consumers are more aware of their entitlements in the event of cancellation.

If your flight is delayed for more than two hours you are entitled to refreshments. If the flight is delayed for a long period you are also entitled to accommodation.

If your flight is cancelled, the Air Traffic Control collapse will almost certainly be deemed to be an extraordinary circumstance beyond the control of your airline so you are not entitled to compensation but you are entitled to a refund or a seat on the next available flight and (depending on the time delay) accommodation as well as refreshments.

The regulatory body for all of this is the Commission for Aviation Regulation.

At time of writing (15.00) no flights are landing or taking off from Dublin. The responsible agency - the Irish Aviation Authority have no statment on their website (yet?) but have told the Irish Times that a crew of engineers are on site trying to fix radar problems that have dogged the airport on and off over recent weeks.

Safety is of great importance but still it seems extraordinary that the airport might be completely shut down (even if it turns out to be only briefly) with no notice to customers or airlines.

The airport press office are recommending that In the meantime passengers are advised to “contact their airline for up todate information regarding their particular flight BEFORE coming to the airport.” which does not bode well for things normalising in the next hour or so.

You can check real time arrivals and departures information here. It is not a pretty picture at present.

[Update 15.30] Aer Lingus have now advised that all departures after 5PM today are cancelled due to the ATC disruption.

[Update 16.10] A limited number of flights are again arriving and departing. Apparently the ATC system is now operating at “half capacity”.

[Update 08.30 Thursday 10th]  This morning the Irish Aviation Authority says the situation has stabilised.  However, it seems delays will persist.  We shall see.

Like many others we were saddened to hear of the death last night of Séamus Brennan TD, former Minister for Transport and, more recently, Minister for Tourism. Séamus always had an open door and a willing ear for a logical argument and had many dealings with the ITAA during his Ministerial career. He did much to open up the aviation market into and out of Ireland and most recently was very active in promoting Ireland as a destination notwithstanding the illness he was fighting.

As recently as January of this year he opened the ITAA’s Holiday World Show at the RDS and gave great time to exhibitors from near and far spending several hours visiting stands throughout the show.

He will be greatly missed from public life in Ireland.

In Cannes yesterday, the French Government proposed to European Justice Ministers that police from tourists’ home countries might be stationed in the most popular resorts abroad. Apparently 10 Czech officers already spend the summer in top destination Croatia helping tourists deal with problems that arise. Arguably, since we speak English, Irish holiday makers have less trouble being understood by the authorities wherever we go. Still, maybe this would be a good idea, given the number of problems Irish embassies apparently have to deal with each summer. Who knows it might be a popular suggestion with the Gardaí too?

In reality though, good quality Travel Insurance is the best antidote to theft, injury or other problems any of us can encounter abroad. Surveys suggest 50% of Irish people taking trips don’t take out any insurance - which is nuts!

RTE’s Liveline show last Friday (4 July) heard extraordinary stories about a Cork woman who accepted many tens of thousands of Euros from a range of parents who wished to send their talented kids to the “World Championships for Performing Arts” in Los Angeles in July 2008. It seems the trips paid for were not actually organised.  Happily, most of the funds now appear to have been refunded - after what sounds like a great deal of hassle.

The story sounds complicated but the bottom line here is that consumers are very foolish to hand over cash for foreign trips unless a licensed and bonded travel agent is making the arrangements.  

The ITAA will be urging the Commission for Aviation Regulation to investigate this extraordinary story and to launch a prosecution if the stories relayed on Liveline prove to be accurate.