Bonding in the air leads to happy flying

THE occasional traveller may have missed out on the news but the regulars have put their weight behind the Irish Travel Agents Association demands for the bonding of airlines.

Anyone booking with Irish travel agents or tour operators do so safe in the knowledge that their money/holidays are safe even if the company goes broke.

Not so with the airlines, however, and it was heartening to see ITAA president, Tony Brazil, recently call on Minister for Transport, Seamus Brennan to act quickly to solve the problem.

He said: “It is evident that the major airlines will continue to refuse to introduce a bonding scheme. If that is the case we now call on Minister Brennan to pressurise his fellow EU transport ministers to make this a legal requirement for all airlines.

“Travel agents and tour operators operate a system of bonding and are obliged to do so under Irish legislation. In fact the ITAA introduced bonding voluntarily in 1980 and it was not until two years later that it became law in Ireland. Europe took more than 12 years to catch up, so we are not latecomers to this

issue.”

The ITAA has received considerable support in their demands from regular passengers and particularly from the business sector.

_ RECENT surveys that show Ireland to be one of the most expensive countries in the world would appear to have hit the tourism market even before the summer season. In just one market, Dublin figures for tourism have fallen by 4% in the last eight months. Surprise, surprise, spending is up 20%! Now that could be because visitors are splurging more money on their holiday in any event, or that inflation has gone

through the roof.

It could be a combination of both factors but more likely that the cost of living in this country has taken a dangerously high increase.

It’s bad enough to have restless natives but Ireland’s future prosperity depends hugely on the influx of tourists. If they stop coming, just guess where we are all headed.

Sure, workers in countries such as Spain and Portugal are paid less, but the cost of living for Irish tourists there is up to 40% less than staying at home.

Inclement weather and high prices will drive more and more Irish people abroad for annual holidays. They will also stop others from visiting these shores.

_ SEVENTEEN different itineraries of between seven and 19 nights have been packaged by Orient Lines in the company’s new summer brochure for 2003.

The cruise line offers packages to the Mediterranean and Greek Isles, Scandinavia, Russia, Northern Europe, North Africa and the Canary Islands on the 826 passenger Marco Polo and the 1,026 passenger Crown Odyssey.

A feature of next year’s programme is a complimentary celebration package for those on honeymoon or celebrating anniversaries during their cruise. Bookings for these specials must be made before August 31.