By Stephen McKinley
As the foot-and-mouth crisis in Ireland appears to be easing, travel agents in the U.S. are reporting a slight improvement in business. More customers appear to be reassured that Ireland is safe to visit, and the Irish Tourist Board is planning a comprehensive campaign to get the word out.
However, while this week’s Echo carries an open letter from the Irish Tourist Board’s executive vice president, James P. McGuigan, some travel agents in the American Southwest, especially Texas, have claimed that information from the Irish Tourist Board has been not been coming through.
Several holiday companies in San Antonio report that while resourceful customers have been able to find out information from the internet, direct information from the tourist board has been hard to find.
"I have not received anything," said Jennie Lowry of Lowry and Scott tours in San Antonio, "apart from an e-mail prepared and sent out from Brian Moore Tours." At International Tours and Travel, travel agent Tracy Calloway said she had seen one faxed message from a cruise line, but otherwise there had been no information from official Irish sources.
Lowry, Calloway and other travel agents in Texas said that business to Ireland was down — cancellations because of customer fears of foot-and-mouth disease, confusion of the animal sickness with mad cow disease, and general ignorance and fear. Some holidaymakers have expressed fear of the disinfectant mats used in Ireland to prevent spread of the virus on shoes and car tires.
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At Rennert Travel also in San Antonio, Michele Gunthorp said that her business to Ireland may have been off 35-04 percent this year, and she said she was disappointed that more accurate information was not available.
"There was one fax about two weeks ago," she said, but said that otherwise, news on what attractions were open or closed in Ireland, and how foot-and-mouth disease was more of an inconveneince than a threat, was coming from secondary sources, such as U.S.-based trade publications. "What we’re finding out, we’re finding out on our own," she said.
Not all travel agents agree. In Los Angeles, Brendan Tours spokesperson Diane Hatwell said the Irish Tourist Board had provided "more than enough information already." Hatwell added that her problem now was not cancellations, but attracting new bookings.
Tourist Board blitz
In response, the Irish Tourist Board’s James P. McGuigan said that a comprehensive "reassurance" plan is in place, and that this would come into action by the end of the month. The Irish minister for tourism and sport, Jim McDaid, will visit the U.S. on a weeklong trip from April 22. McDaid’s trip will start in Los Angeles and head east to New York through Chicago and then to Boston. Tourist Board staff plan to visit 53 U.S. cities in May to reassure clients and customers. There have also been unconfirmed reports that actor Martin Sheen would be part of the advertising campaign.
"We’re getting to the point where we feel the balance is tipping in favor of a more positive message," said McDaid, and he stressed that as Ireland had returned to normal, so the message to the customer would be a positive one of "business as usual."
At the Northern Irish Tourist Board, a spokesperson said that his visit to Northern Ireland last week confirmed that "everything was almost back to normal." He said money had been set aside by the Belfast executive to provide for a sales blitz in June. He said that this would concentrate on the major gateways to Ireland: New York, Boston and Chicago.
In response to criticism from the Southwest that not enough information was being provided, he said: "I think it is sinking in a bit more. People are educating themselves as well."
Back in the Northeast, the message does seem to be getting across. At Dan Dooley Car Rentals, Attracta Lyndon said that compared with the last few weeks, "there has been a small increase in business." Lyndon had one cancellation yesterday — a customer whom she was unable to persuade that foot-and-mouth disease was harmless. Dan Dooley offers a full refund for all cancellations.
Lyndon said she believed the tourist boards had been doing enough to get the message across to customers, but shesaid that "the next four weeks are crucial, if we are to salvage some of the high season. I we can, then we ought to have a very good fall." Crucial to salvaging this years tourist trade would be advertisements in newspapers, she said.