Travel Tales: Return of optimism could lead to a lot of pent up demand for flights

As the fears from Covid variants start to fade the world is finally opening again for travel.

This week Australia announced they will open their borders to fully vaccinated international travellers for the first time in nearly two years on February 21 and New Zealand will follow suit later in the year.

Thailand and Bali announced last week that their borders will also open this month.

Last week the EU standardised their travel requirements with member states with vaccination certification becoming the primary source of approval but with the caveat that it includes the booster jab for people who got their final dose more than 9 months ago.

This means countries like Portugal are no longer looking for negative Covid tests since Monday. 

The vaccine certificate based on the booster dose will not be time specific, but it is still very important to check your specific destination before you travel for local updates on dfa.ie and reopen.uropa.ie websites. 

Over one billion certs have been issued, according to the European Commission. The regulation on the certs is set to expire on July 1, 2022. However, there is provision to review and possibly extend, depending on the epidemiological situation.

It should be remembered that the certs are also often still needed in many European countries as proof of vaccination to gain access to places like restaurants, concerts and pubs. 

We are currently in the middle of the European ski season and certs are a requirement in most countries to get ski passes and masks are mandatory on ski lifts.

The season this year is much quieter than usual with Apres ski mostly table service and finishing early. But that being said I have talked to people who have skied this year and they have loved the less busy slopes and felt very safe. 

As confidence returns to the travel market, people within the industry are predicting a quick rebound with Eurocontrol predicting that the numbers of flights into and out of Ireland will return to 90% of the 2019 levels. 

This would be an amazing turnaround as last year there were pessimistic records that said there would not be a return to 2019 levels until 2029. 

The return of optimism to the public could lead to a lot of pent up demand for flights from people that have not travelled since 2019. A lot of people have airline travel vouchers from the summer of 2019 that they have yet to use.

There is always a time lag in the airline industry with flight capacity so this high demand and short supply could invariably lead to higher prices this year. 

January is normally the busiest month for Irish travel agents with around 40% of booking made in that month but this year they are predicting that March will be the new January for sales.

Therefore there will be a lot of sales this month so it could well be the best time to get a deal.

Another thing to look out for this year is supply of places to stay as a lot of AirBnB stock moved back to long term rentals during the pandemic.

This is also an issue with car rental companies who reduced their inventory over the last two years. I would advise to book a hire car as early as possible if you need it and make sure there is free cancellation. 

Flexibility when booking for your holidays is really important so I would recommend booking accommodation that offers free cancellation or where you have to pay only a small deposit.

Hotels often offer a room at a slightly higher rate with flexibility and this would be the year to take that option.  It would also be important when buying flights to see what the postponement rules are in case of a new Covid variant. 

Irish travel agents were hit very hard over the last two years and there could be a resurgence in people booking through them as they are better protected than when booking on their own.

People are better protected when using an Irish bonded travel agent. This year people are going to be looking for peace of mind when booking so it would be very important to get travel insurance that covers any delays due to Covid. 

A lot of families have not travelled since 2019 so I would advise to check if your children’s passports are in date as children’s passports expire after 5 years and they probably have been gaining dust for two years.

I renewed my passport last year and I ordered it online on a Monday and it arrived on Wednesday. 

But there is a huge backlog now with the passport office saying there is a 10 day wait and a 40 day wait for first time passports. So now is the time to check those old passports. 

The booking trends for this year are showing that after a few years away, people are being cautious and what to go to places they are familiar with like Spain and Portugal with places like Alicante, Lanzarote and Faro all very popular. 

The booking trends for this year are showing that after a few years away people are being cautious and want to go to places they are familiar with like Spain and Portugal with Alicante, Lanzarote and Faro all very popular. 

There is another trend predicted that says people will look at travel differently in the post with words like travel better, conscientious, ethically, sustainably, less crowded, safe, nature and outdoors are coming up. This break in travel due to the pandemic has allowed people to take stock of how they travel. 

People will look to sustainable and eco friendly travel and use specialist tour operations that can offer that. They will not just look to offset carbon emissions but contribute to the local economy through verifiable charitable projects.

This was a topic that came up with my Travel Tales with Fergal Podcast guest this week Thom Breathnach who is the travel editor of the Irish Examiner.

Thom visited Canada last November where he went to experience a town called Churchill, Manitoba, better known as the "polar bear capital of the world".

He really wanted to do something special for his first big trip overseas so that was an incredible experience to see the bears, vulnerable as they are, in such abundance at least for now.

It may also be a prompt for the general style of travel he loves in general, namely being with nature and hoping to embark on more conservation/travel trips in the future.

The Travel Tales with Fergal Podcast is available on all podcast platforms.