It’s a positive day for all in the travel trade as we celebrate the incredible and long-awaited news that America will be open for travel for vaccinated travellers from November.
While we await the details on the exact date, we wanted to have a look at what the reaction has been among the Irish trade.
AerLingus kicked off with an incredible American Sale – one which has us all reaching for the laptops at this morning’s meeting. But how are things in agencies across the country? Have they noticed a pick up in US enquiries?
We touched base with some agents to see what they are coming across.
Irish Trade Reaction
Sharon Harney, General Manager of Cassidy Travel told us that, ‘‘We have seen a continual pent up demand for travel to the US over the last number of months. Customers were constantly checking and verifying when they can travel. This recent news is a most welcome development and we have already started to see a positive reaction to the news this morning”.
Deirdre Sweeney, General Manager at Sunway Holidays certainly knows this side of the business. ”The USA has been a very big part of our business over the past 15 years and we welcome this news. Orlando and Cruising from America have always been a favourite of the Irish, and we look forward to the return of the Shopping breaks in NYC, Boston, Washington & Philadelphia. We have definitely received an increase in calls since this news has broke.”
Ciara Foley of Platinum Travel explained the joy. ”With the wonderful news yesterday that the US will be open from November for fully vaccinated travellers, this is positive news for our clients and already our phone lines are hopping! We are working on new itineraries and bucket-list trips for clients who feel they have waited long enough to get across the Atlantic.”
Beverleigh Hart, Chief Operating Officer of Bookabed showed the demand for an American holiday among the Irish. She said ”The US is a huge part of Bookabed’s inventory and although restrictions have been in place for some time, the US was our number one selling destination in 2021 with over 22,000 passengers booked for travel in 2022. Sales in general for September have been very positive with bookings hitting September 2018 turnover levels.”
”This announcement will indeed further strengthen our bookings to the US for next year. Yesterday we saw a 76% increase in US bookings in comparison to the same day last week.”
Bladhana Richardson, Head of Marketing at American Holidays give us the low down on what people are looking for.
”On the back of yesterday’s announcement, we are seeing an immediate increase in queries from customers looking to get away as soon as the restrictions lift, in November, December and of course 2022. While the majority of requests have been for New York, Las Vegas and Orlando, Florida we are seeing increases in requests for the West Coast, the Deep South, Caribbean Cruise holidays and Canada. We are delighted with yesterday’s announcement and look forward to getting our customers back to experience the best the USA has to offer.”
Positivity Lies Ahead
One thing is for sure – this is the time to book a holiday to America. There are special offers bound to tempt us all in the coming months and with so much to see and do, it’ll be hard to say no!
From all at ITTN, we wish all our agent and trade friends positive and happy thoughts as we now move into a new phase of recovery for our industry.
