A CUSTOMER-CARE charter designed to reassure tourists concerned about volcanic ash cloud disruption will be drawn up by Fáilte Ireland this week.
Announcing the move yesterday, Minister for Tourism Mary Hanafin said the voluntary charter would address issues such as cancellations policy, pricing for delayed tourists, provision of timely information, internet accessibility and quality of services for all tourists affected by volcanic ash. It would be marketed throughout the world as quickly as possible, she said.
Ms Hanafin said Ireland had received some bad publicity as it was one of the first countries affected by the ash cloud so it was important to send out the message that Ireland was open for business.
Asked if tourism operators would respect the charter, given that it was voluntary, she said the names of the people who signed up to the charter would be publicised on the tourism agencies’ websites so it made good business sense to get involved.
“There’s a long-term impact in this,” she said. “Tourism is something that has the potential to grow in Ireland for the next few years so don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.”
Ms Hanafin was speaking after what she described as a “very good, positive meeting” with tourism bodies including the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation, the Irish Hotels Federation, the Incoming Tour Operators Association, BB Ireland, Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland.
She also announced an extra €100,000 in marketing funding for tour operators to help them publicise the message that Ireland looked after its tourists. Marketing activity in the UK would also increase immediately, and the option of ferry travel would be highlighted.
BB Ireland chief executive Helena Healy said BB bookings had fallen since the flight disruptions started, and this fall was likely to be sustained as the uncertainty over flights continued. “A high proportion of our business comes from overseas so the flight disruption in other European countries, such as Spain, Portugal and Germany has had even more of an impact on us than the cancelled domestic flights,” she said.
Hotels such as the Park Hotel Kenmare have begun to draw up their own plans to cater for people delayed by the ash cloud.
Guests who have stayed at the hotel for two consecutive nights in the week before their flight is cancelled due to the ash cloud will be welcomed back on a complimentary room-only basis for as many nights as necessary, even if they have since moved on to another hotel.
Meanwhile, ferry companies have continued to see spikes in demand. Stena Line’s Eamonn Hewitt said its business had doubled in the immediate aftermath of the volcano eruption.
Since the first airport closures it has seen more than 60,000 additional customers on its Irish Sea routes alone. Stena Line increased crew numbers to cater for the extra passengers.
Irish Ferries said it also saw a rise and fall in demand in line with the opening and closing of airspace. Its spokesman Don Hall said no extra sailings were necessary because, even at the height of the crisis, no would-be passengers were left behind.
On one day alone last week hits on the Irish Ferries website and phone calls to their reservations centres increased by up to 300 per cent, which coincided with news bulletins reporting on the closure of Irish air space.
NUI Galway researchers who detected Icelandic volcanic ash off Connemara have developed a forecasting service for the plume’s dispersion, writes Lorna Siggins.
The forecasting and assessment programme is a “first” for Ireland and one of only a few in Europe, according to Prof Colin O’Dowd, NUIG director of the centre for climate and air pollution studies.
The NUIG team is co-operating with Met Éireann and the Irish Centre for High End Computing (ICHEC) on the service, which can be seen at macehead.org.
NUIG says that the London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre is still the main source of information for aviation decisions, but the new forecasting service provides an “additional tool” for air travellers.
