Irish travel agents warn bookings may be slower than in UK due to pace of vaccine rollout

Pat Dawson, chief executive of the Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA), said that Irish bookings for foreign holidays will depend on how quickly vaccines are rolled out. 

The head of Ireland's largest travel agents group has warned that bookings for foreign holidays this year may be slower than in Britain, depending on how quickly vaccines are rolled out.

Pat Dawson, chief executive of the Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA), said that Irish bookings for foreign holidays will depend on how quickly vaccines are rolled out. 

“The British seem to be a little bit ahead of us” in terms of vaccinating the bulk of the population, he said.

He said, however, that over-65s may start booking early on, while the over 50s and younger people will likely hold off until September.

His comments come as TUI, Europe’s largest travel group, said that the vaccine roll-out in Britain had boosted summer bookings from the over 50s. That age group accounted for half of all web bookings since the end of last year.

The elderly, the vulnerable and frontline workers - around 15 million people - are due to be vaccinated by mid-February in Britain, with those aged between 50 and 70 expected to follow in the months after, putting summer holidays back on the agenda.

“We’re seeing more interest in holidays from an age group that wasn’t coming through before, with the over 50s starting to book, we assume, on the back to the positive vaccine news,” TUI UK managing director Andrew Flintham said in a statement.

In Ireland, Mr Dawson said the picture on vaccines may become clearer in the coming weeks. 

“It looks like people in their 50s and younger people probably won’t be vaccinated till sometime in the summer or late summer and certainly, that will delay people going," Mr Dawson said. 

"There is no doubt about it, the vaccine is going to make an awful lot of difference," he said.