The Irish travel industry is seeing a boom that would have been unimaginable even five years ago. With the trend now of holidays early and often, it is estimated one million Irish people will take sun packages this year.

The Irish Travel Agents' Association has seen outbound summer sun holidays grow from 549,000 in 1998, to 710,000 in 2000. This summer an expected 770,000 holidays will be sold, by their members, a 40 per cent increase in only three years.

However, the overall figures are believed to be considerably higher, in the region of 896,000 for summer 2000 when all seats are taken into account. Industry sources say that 2001 is the year when one million sun packages will be sold. Significant improvements in disposable income have begun to show in recent years in the number of holidays Irish people are taking at home and abroad.

Don Cullinane, of West Cork Travel Worldchoice, who has seven travel agencies, describes business as "flying and booming. This season November and December have been very busy and the traditional crazy month of January has been calmer but the sales are still coming in," he says. Cullinane expects a second wave of bookings in April and May when the effects of the Budget begin to appear in wages and salaries.

"The Budget will have an enormous effect on our business. Most people already have a home and a car and, therefore, the extra money in their pockets will be spent on more holidays. We have Charlie McCreevy to thank," he adds.

Not only are people spending money on holidays, and going away more often, they are also prepared to spend more to get exactly what they want. Cullinane has seen a huge growth in the number of tailormade holidays, with people asking for variances on packages, 10-day holidays and multi-centre holidays. Cost is not an issue.

A newcomer to the Irish market this year, the British firm Airtours has been more than surprised by the reaction from consumers. It is already on target to sell 45,000 packages to 11 destinations in Europe. Jimmy Donnelly of Airtours believes the rapid growth in the market means "we will not be taking away from existing business".

It's a perception echoed by Niamh Hayes of Budget Travel who expects to sell 400,000 packages this year for both summer and winter sun. "We have had five years of extraordinary growth," she says.

The main growth for Budget has been in the family market. Until five years ago Budget's market was specifically couples and singles. "Now our business is made up one-third of families," she explains.

The fact that more families are travelling on sun holidays has meant that all the major tour operators have issued brochures earlier. Families like to book earlier and are quite specific in the places they want to go to. Twenty per cent of Budget's packages were sold before Christmas and 70 per cent will be sold by the end of January.

Falcon, too, issued its first brochure in July and JWT issued one in August. Already 20,000 children are booked into the Falcon Kids Clubs for the summer. Last year, newcomer Direct Holidays, which specialises in family holidays, aimed to sell up to 30,000 packages; it ended up selling 47,000. This year sales are already running well ahead of its target of 75,000.

One of the most interesting trends in recent years is the boom in popularity of long-haul destinations. Specialist tour operator Joe Walsh Tours says that growth is running at 15 to 20 per cent. Cormac Walsh sees more people travelling long haul and also coming from a wider base.

"Ten years ago your typical long-haul traveller was an Irish Times reader; now long-haul travellers have drifted right across the socio-demographic sectors," he says. The most popular destinations are Thailand, Barbados, Bali, St Lucia and Malaysia and last year 21,000 people travelled to Australia.

Another significant trend is people getting married in exotic locations. Walsh attributes this to the high cost of weddings in Ireland and the rise in second-time marriages. A typical wedding and honeymoon package with 14 nights in St Lucia in an all-inclusive resort, including the wedding, will cost from £2,689 per person.

"The future of long-haul travel is definitely bright and there is much room for growth," Walsh adds. "Long-haul travel is becoming more accessible due to competitive air fares as well as increasing availability from the airlines. Holidays are now priced from Ireland in Irish punts and are not affected by sterling fluctuations."

Cruising is the fastest growing area of the tourism industry and is also becoming more popular with many Irish people. Royal Caribbean Line alone is building 10 more ships in the next four years and increasing its fleet by 50 per cent. Royal Caribbean is serving the Irish market through tour operators such as Tour America and American Holidays. Other tour operators such as Airtours, Falcon, Panorama and Budget Travel all have Mediterranean cruise options.

Sterling is also responsible for the significant growth, overall, in tourist numbers out of the Republic. All travel agents and tour operators are reporting strong growth from Northern Ireland, growth as much as 20 per cent in Border areas and between 10 and 15 per cent elsewhere.

For many people north of the Border, whether they fly out from Dublin or Belfast is irrelevant, but if they are saving up to 25 per cent on a holiday they are more than happy to travel from Dublin. A travel agent from Monaghan says he is always surprised how organised people from the North are. They come into his agency and know exactly what they want and when they are going, a year in advance.

The sterling difference has also increased business for Irish Ferries, a trend it expects to continue this year with the arrival, on the Dublin-Holyhead route, of the Ulysses, the biggest super-ferry in the world. Declan Mescall of Irish Ferries also believes "the car industry is responsible for the growth of motoring holidays to the UK and Europe. So many people have new cars now that they want to give them a good spin, and France, in particular, is showing huge growth".

Theme parks in the United Kingdom, such as Alton Towers, Legoland and Whipsnade, are also attracting more and more Irish visitors. Irish Ferries is reporting substantial growth in UK holidays with people combining theme parks with motoring holidays.

In the recession-hit 1980s, tourism was being touted as the growth industry of the future, and now it has come to pass. At that time, the Irish travel industry was a home-grown industry with tour operators such as Cara, Blue Skies, Budget Travel, Aer Lingus Holidays and Joe Walsh Travel dominating the market. All have since disappeared or are being bought by giant UK tour operators. First Choice owns Falcon/ JWT and First Choice travel shops: Airtours owns Panorama, Eurosites and own-brand Airtours, and Thomson Holidays purchased Budget Travel.

Irish tour operators have evolved into servicing the specialist and niche markets such as Topflight with Austria, Italy and Jersey, and the US and Canada specialists, Tour America, Canamerica and American Holidays. Despite what would appear to be a market dominated by a trio of heavyweights, consumers are enjoying better value than ever before. Fergus Kilkelly, president of the Irish Travel Agents' Association, sees the buoyancy of the past five years continuing. "This year upwards of 800,000 summer holiday packages will be on sale. The travel industry is keeping in line with the car industry in terms of growth. Long may it last," he adds.

The Holiday World show, featuring more than 700 exhibitors from 70 countries, is open January 26th, 2 p.m.9 p.m. and January 27th and 28th from noon to 6 p.m., at the RDS Dublin. It moves to Cork from February 2nd to 4th.

jscales@irish-times.ie