For Tourism Ireland Any Time Is The Right Time For A Visit

While the global travel industry is eager to get back to business, one of the challenges that it will be dealing with initially is determining when the high-demand booking windows will open.

Tourism Ireland’s executive vice-president, USA & Canada, Alison Metcalfe observed that: “There’s no playbook for this. And I think it would be fair to say that the traditional kind of booking period and the booking windows are literally out the window. So, we’re trying to be as data-driven as possible to track when people are looking to book.”
And based on the intelligence that Tourism Ireland has been gathering, Metcalfe told Canadian Travel Press that: “Essentially, the time between first looking and booking is on average about 45 days and it varies by segment, by market.”

“But I suppose what we’re saying,” Metcalfe continued, “is if people have been holiday planning for the last two-and-a-half years, they’ve had lots of time at home or in their basements, so, they have a good sense of where they want to go and they’ve done all their research and they’re just waiting until closer to the time to actually book.”

And she added: “People want to feel that they’ve booked and can absolutely go. I think the biggest barrier is just the changing environment around restrictions – testing and protocols and that sort of thing.”

For the full story, check out the Nov. 8 issue of CANADIAN TRAVEL PRESS.