It was really a good news day on 7th March as Disney announced a contract with an Irish animation company that will generate 75 new Irish based jobs. Coupled with this was the launch to the Irish travel trade of the Disneyland Paris 20th anniversary plans at a lunch jointly hosted by Disneyland Paris, Abbey Travel and Breakaway Tours. The winner of an all-inclusive family package to Disneyland Paris was Co Wexford-based Deirdre Murphy from Hilary Murphy Travel. No doubt, she will have a magical time!
The celebrations will begin on 1st April and run until September and there is a special promotion of up to 40% off the Disneyland Paris hotels and park passes, plus children under seven stay and play free.
Paris-based Julien Munoz, Director International Sales and Marketing for Disneyland Paris, thanked the Irish travel agents for their tremendous support over the past 20 years. He also thanked the two Cons – Con Horgan from Abbey Travel and Con Neenan from Breakaway Tours – who had played a pivotal role in the success of the product in the Irish market since 1992.
He introduced a ‘Magical’ audio-visual presentation that highlighted that “the magic begins with you”, alluding to the fact that travel agents are the first point of contact between them and the customer.
Disneyland Paris is now the number one destination in Europe and attracted 15.6 million visitors last year. The Disney hotel stock on site is now 5,800 rooms, with another 2,000 rooms from other hotel companies in the vicinity. On site there are 56 attractions – and 85 restaurants serving 30 million meals a year.
Disney’s man in Ireland, Karl Moen, encouraged agents to sign up for the dedicated web e-learning programme, ‘Disney Stars’. There is also an opportunity to enter the Best Disney Travel Agent competition.
