The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has again revised its 2010 industry forecast and is now projecting a profit of $8.9 billion (up from its earlier projection of $2.5 billion).

Yield improvements are the most important factor driving the improved outlook. On top of last year’s capacity cuts, capacity expansion is lagging behind demand improvements. The result is higher load factors and some pricing power for airlines. More business travellers on premium seats are also boasting average yields, which are now expected to grow by 7.3% for passengers and 7.9% for cargo.

It seems like a lot of profit, but it’s only a small part of the over $50 billion lost over the last decade.

And there are big regional variations. Recovery is strongest in the Asia Pacific region, which is predicted to produce record profits in the region of $5.2 billion.

North American carriers are now forecast to make $3.5 billion (up from $1.9 billion) where airlines have seen a much larger rise in yields than in other regions.

European airlines are expected to still be in the red, showing a loss of $1.3 billion, which is reduced from an earlier forecast of $2.8 billion. However, IATA notes, continuing economic weakness in the European economy and faltering consumer confidence continues to depress originating passenger traffic.

Looking out towards 2011, IATA is predicting that consumer confidence is not expected to pick up meaningfully as joblessness remains high in Europe and North America. Slower growth is expected to keep costs in check and oil prices are expected to remain constant at about $79 a barrel. But a surge of aircraft deliveries is expected to fuel capacity expansion of 6%, which is greater than the expected demand improvements. Overall profitability is expected to fall back to $5.3 billion.

So while progress has been made, it’s not dramatic, and the pressure remains on European carriers.

If you would like to comment on anything you’ve read here, leave a comment below!

September 29th 2010

For many years the Pub has been a key attraction for visitors to Ireland. In fact, in the most recent Visitor Attitude Survey, the Pub still ranks highly as a positive discriminator for Ireland over other destinations.

We appear to have plenty of them, over 8,000 dotted right across the country, providing comfort and sustenance to locals and visitors alike.

But recent news that up to 1,000 of these very same Pubs haven’t renewed their Licenses sends a loud message that all is not well with the sector. ITIC spoke with Padraig Cribben, Chief Executive of the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland. Click on the image below to hear what he had to say.

If you would like to comment on anything you’ve heard here, leave a comment below!

September 22nd 2010

Remember that much talked about Newsweek special which spoke so favourably about our Taoiseach and ranked him as one of the top 10 world leaders? Well, that was part of a much wider study which attempted to find the answer to the following thought:

"If you were born today, which country would provide you the very best opportunity to live a healthy, safe, reasonably prosperous and upwardly mobile life?"

All such surveys can lead to results that many will question or even dismiss, but for all of that, everyone loves to engage, speculate, agree, and disagree. Newsweek put together a very formidable group of advisors to help them out.

They choose 5 categories of national well-being – education, health, quality of life, economic competitiveness and political environment – and compiled metrics within these categories across 100 nations. A weighted formula yielded an overall list of the world’s top 100 countries. Newsweek point out that they used the most recent data available and that the list represents a snapshot of how it was in 2008/09, and as we know, stuff happens and things change.

The top 10 in overall ranking were – Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Australia, Luxembourg, Norway, Canada, the Netherlands, Japan and Denmark.

It’s worth going to the next 10 too – United States, Germany, New Zealand, United Kingdom, South Korea, France, Ireland, Austria, Belgium and Singapore. So there we are, or were, at number 17.

That’s a pretty respectable placing when you look at the company we are in and the many nations we are ahead of such as Italy, Spain, Israel, Russia, China, India, Brazil and so on.

The only category where Ireland breaks through to a top 10 placing is in Education, where we rank 9th.

The domination of North European countries in the top spots is interesting and as Newsweek put it, "they avoid war, they live in the dark, and they maintain a steady state of depressive and productive activity."

Wouldn’t you rather be number 17, really.

And here’s what they actually said about our Taoiseach, "With Ireland’s economy staggered by the banking crisis, the prime minister is prescribing harsh medicine.  His drastic austerity packages have won greater admiration abroad than among the citizens – Cowen’s ratings have plunged. But if he engineers the turnaround many seem to expect, he’ll no doubt be rewarded in the long run."

Finally, some gems for your next pub quiz:

Best weather – Malta
Best music – Mali
Best place to dine – Spain
Most gay-friendly – Holland
Best place to be old – Japan
Best place to be surgically enhanced – Brazil
Best place to fly a kite – India
Best place to drink a pint – Ireland

(PS. the last one is mine – aren’t you glad you live here!)

If you would like to comment on anything you’ve read here, leave a comment below!

September 16th 2010

Car touring is one of the most important aspects of Irish tourism, distributing our visitors across the length and breadth of Ireland to those remote but beautiful coastline hideaways from North Western Donegal to West Cork, and all points in between.

Car touring visitors are not only important for the car rental sector, but for the thousands of tourism businesses located right around the island.

Ensuring an adequate supply of quality rental cars, particularly for the peak season, has not always been easy.

To see how things are working out in the current year, ITIC spoke with Paul Redmond, Chief Executive of the Car Rental Council of Ireland.  Click on the image below to hear what he had to say.

If you would like to comment on anything you’ve heard here, leave a comment below!

September 14th 2010 

Mary Hanafin TD was appointed Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport in March of this year, and her appointment was widely welcomed.

She arrived at a time when the Industry had gone through one of its most difficult years ever, and just when it might have looked as if things were on the turn, along came the volcanic ash.

But the Minister is noted for her resilience, enthusiasm and hard work, qualities which are shared with many in the Tourism Industry.

Six months on, Minister Hanafin spoke with ITIC about her impressions of the Industry then and now. Click on the image below to hear what she had to say.

If you would like to comment on anything you’ve heard here, leave a comment below!

September 6th 2010