Tour firms cautiously optimistic about 2010

INDUSTRY PROSPECTS:TOUR OPERATORS are cautiously optimistic that 2010 will be a better year than 2009 for the battered tourism industry, even though capacity is likely to be down by 15-20 per cent.

The demise of a number of travel agents last year is still being felt by the industry, which experienced one of its most difficult 12 months in decades.

The president of the Irish Tour Operators Federation, Kevin Nolan, estimates that capacity will be half what it was in 2007, when almost a million people took package holidays. He says the drop in capacity is a direct result of tour operators adjusting to the economic downturn.

The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office showed that the number of overseas trips taken by Irish people in the first nine months of 2009 fell from 6.8 million to 6.1 million, a drop of just over 10 per cent.

Nolan says capacity has been “reduced to manageable levels to ensure some margin”, and the main operators have been cautious about availability, waiting to see what demand there is in the market for this year.

In his capacity as financial director of Topflight, Nolan says there were signs of an industry comeback, with a 20 per cent increase in the numbers booking skiing holidays this winter.

“We would not be still in business if we did not think there was something in it for us going forward. The recent Budget has had a positive effect on people’s psychology that we hope will soak through to the charter business,” he says.

Falcon Holidays managing director Damien Mooney says his company has put on an additional 30,000 seats for this year following the demise of Budget Travel.

He says he is “quietly confident” that the tour-operator business had turned a corner, and he also cites the Budget as a boost for the majority of consumers.

He says he believes that many families will be looking to travel to foreign destinations after having a staycation last year and that package holidays abroad are better value than holidays at home.

“Now that people know their incomes better, they are feeling more confident about planning ahead,” he says.

Sunways Holidays managing director Tanya Airey says: “There is still money out there – not as much as there used to be, but people will still want to go on holidays. We’re hoping that will show through in the new year.”