It used to be that people who had a good customer service experience in a hotel told one or two people, while those who had a bad one told 10. Today, the numbers that can be reached by either camp with a few key strokes is closer to 50 million.

Read full article in the Irish Times.

The Irish Hotels Federation has welcomed a ruling published by the British Advertising Standards Authority this morning which prohibits travel website TripAdvisor from claiming or even implying the hotel reviews it carries are “honest, real or trusted”.

Read the full article in the Irish Times.

One of the State’s largest hotel chains planned a campaign involving “a bank” of people aimed at generating false positive reviews on the influential TripAdvisor website.

Read the full article from the Irish Times.

DAA Welcomes Emirates’ 52% Capacity Expansion Just Three Weeks After Dublin-Dubai Route Launch

Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has welcomed Emirates Airline’s decision to significantly increase capacity on its new Dublin-Dubai route.

Emirates will increase the number of available seats on the route by 52% from July when it introduces a larger Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on the service. The decision to increase capacity comes just three weeks after Emirates launched the new service.

Dublin has already become one of ” the airline’s most successful route launches” with many of the Dublin flights currently operating with 90% plus load factors, Emirates said.

“This is excellent news for Dublin Airport and shows the strength of the long-haul market to and from Ireland,” said DAA’s Director of Strategy, Vincent Harrison. “This is Emirates’ fastest ever capacity expansion on a new route and we look forward to welcoming its larger Boeing 777 aircraft to Dublin,” he added.

Emirates began operating the Dublin-Dubai service on January 9, with a 237-seater Airbus A330-200. “Normally, this would provide enough capacity for the first 2-3 years of a new route operation,” said Salem Obaidalla, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Europe & Russian Federation. “However, Dublin is exceeding our expectations much faster than was predicted and we need more seats to satisfy demand,” he added.

Emirates will introduce the 360-seater Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on the Dublin-Dubai route from July 1. The Boeing aircraft will offer 310 seats in Economy Class, 42 in Business Class and 8 First Class Private Suites.

Emirates operates from the award-winning Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport. Terminal 2 will get another new long-haul service in June, when United Continental adds a new Dublin-Washington service to its existing Dublin-Newark operation.

Further information:
Paul O’Kane, 353 1 8141897, 353 86 6090221

Following 3 years of massive decline in British visitor numbers, growth returned in 2011. Is this the start of the much hoped for recovery?

ITIC spoke with Vanessa Markey, Head of Great Britain for Tourism Ireland. Click on the video below to hear what she had to say.

January 31st 2012

The Governments brainchild for next year is The Gathering, which it hopes can bring 350,000 visitors to Ireland, generating up to €200 million for the economy in 2013.

Read the full interview with Minister Leo Varadkar from the Sunday Business Post.

Major decisions will be taken by Easter to change the fortunes of troubled Shannon Airport, Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has pledged.

Read the full article from the Irish Examiner.

A plea to Irish people planning holidays this year to Occupy Ireland rather than holiday abroad is being made in an effort to boost the Irish tourism industry. If one in three people were to swap their trip in the sun for one at home it could create 40,000 jobs, said Mike Webster chief executive of Irish booking site GoIreland.com.

Read the full article from the Irish Times.

Despite recession, bailouts and unemployment, tourism chief is optimistic growth will be feature of industry this year. Its probably fair to say that Niall Gibbons does not have an easy job. As head of Tourism Ireland, Mr Gibbons is tasked with marketing the island of Ireland to potential visitors from overseas.

Read the full interview with Niall Gibbons from the Irish Independent.

Visitor numbers from North America bounced back by a healthy6%+ margin last year.  But most of that growth came in the first 9 months.

Have things picked up again, and will the 5.5% growth target for 2012 be achieved?

ITIC spoke with Joe Byrne, Tourism Ireland’s Chief in New York, to find out.  Click on the video below to hear what he had to say.

January 24th 2012