Summer sun beckons as bookings hot up

WHAT’S become a new year tradition has so far shown no signs of dimming despite the economic gloom: the holiday-booking rush is up and running.

Stung by a bleak summer in 2007 and reminders of the same in our current prevailing weather, consumers have been calling travel hotlines, dropping into holiday agents and trawling the web for cheap deals in their droves since Christmas day.

The old reliables — the Canary and Balearic island groups, mainland Spain and the US — remain as popular as ever, but increasing numbers of Irish tourists are setting their sights further afield and packing up for trips to the Caribbean, Asia, South America and Australia.