Cheltenham: Irish undeterred by rising prices and cap on attendance

The number of Irish punters travelling to the Cheltenham Festival is not expected to drop significantly despite extra barriers to travel for this year’s event.

Although there is likely to be slightly fewer Irish slightly compared with last year’s record-breaking festival, which was the first to be held with fans after the pandemic, the number of punters travelling across the Irish Sea is expected to be above pre-pandemic levels irrespective of the increased travel costs and a new cap on attendance numbers at the racetrack.

In 2022, 55,000 people travelled from Ireland as the four-day festival welcomed over 275,000 total punters.

For this year’s event, The Jockey Club, the festival’s organisers, have capped daily numbers at 68,500 in order to improve the flow of punters around the track. Last year, 73,800 fans attended on Gold Cup day.

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Travel experts have also said that the higher cost of energy has led to a 10 to 15 per cent increase in travel prices.

Across the board, the travel industry offers mixed reports on sales from Irish customers compared to last year.

Ryanair says it is carrying over 12,000 punters from Ireland on its routes, an increase of 10 per cent from 2022. Increased demand has led to 30 extra flights being put on from Shannon, Cork and Dublin to Birmingham and Bristol.

Ferry companies Stena Line and Irish Ferries have reported no significant spike or drop in numbers travelling on their routes.

“Last year was a massive increase compared to pre-pandemic,” says travel agent David Bernie. “It’s dropped down a small bit but it’s still above pre-pandemic.”

“People were mad keen to get away for Cheltenham. Covid had finished, everyone wanted to get out straight away. Even the previous Christmas there was nothing going on, that was the first big meeting in two years.”

However, Mary Lee says her company, Newbridge Travel, has recorded increased sales despite the rise in travel costs. “It goes up every year, to be honest,” she says. “That has to do with hotel costs, like ourselves here in Ireland, energy prices are up and hotels factor that in.”

Rooms are still available for hotels in Cheltenham town, an unusual development according to travel experts, who have also noticed prices being reduced in recent weeks. At present, most options for four-night stays in Cheltenham are listed for over €2,000 on booking.com.

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One development that is consistently reported across travel providers is lower than expected sales for Gold Cup day. Falling this year on March 17th, Friday’s signature race is expected to have fewer Irish punters attending, most likely due to a clash with St Patrick’s Day.

There were concerns for those staying outside of Cheltenham due to rail strikes planned for March 16th, but these were called off last week by The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers.