WALKING WITH elephants in Ghana, taking a cruise around an Antarctic peninsula and hiking in Bhutan were just some of the holidays on offer at the Holiday World Show, which ended at the RDS Simmonscourt yesterday, writes ALISON HEALY
Mounting a holiday exhibition during a recession may seem optimistic, but organisers estimated that up to 55,000 people had visited the show by close of business last night. This was an increase of about 5,000 on last year’s attendance.
Some exhibitors ran out of brochures on Saturday evening, and Holiday World spokesman John Butterly said it had been the busiest Saturday in 10 years.
Judging by the queues, the most popular stands were those advertising cruises, US holidays and adventure travel. Camper and caravan companies also attracted the crowds. Cruising holidays were becoming more popular because of the growing interest in all-inclusive holidays, according to John Galligan of John Galligan Travel.
He said the recession had also resulted in major discounts on high-end cruises. “Where the brochure price might be €6,000, now they are selling the holiday for €2,000.”
Inquiries were also coming thick and fast at the Classic Resorts stand, a company which specialises in exotic honeymoons and escorted tours. Its director John Spollen said luxury honeymoons were proving to be a resilient market. “But people are booking much later now. In 2005, people were coming in wanting to book two years in advance. But in December we had people booking honeymoons for March. They are booking for May to September weddings now.”
Mauritius, Mexico and the Dominican Republic were destinations in demand, he said, while splitting a honeymoon between two centres such as New York and the Caribbean was also increasingly popular.
Rachel Quirke from Dublin brought her family to the show on Sunday and was struck by the upbeat atmosphere. “We come every year because it gives us ideas of places to go. It’s very upbeat this year, something I wasn’t expecting,” she said. “To be honest I found it a bit depressing last year, but there’s a lot more interest here today.”
While Irish hotels had cut their rates in recent months, Holiday World spokesman John Butterly said package holiday prices were not expected to fall as the demise of Budget Travel had taken a lot of capacity from the market. Tour operators expect to sell about 410,000 holiday packages this year, compared with an all-time high of 1.177 million in 2002, he said.