This article is from page 40 of the 2009-07-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 40 JPG
INTEREST in holidays in Lahinch is up more than 100 per cent on last year, a leading international booking website has revealed.
Figures just released by leading hotel booking site, Hotels.com, show that searches for hotels in Lahinch by Irish holidaymakers is up 115 per cent on the number of searches car- ried out in May and June last year.
The statistics show interest in do- mestic travel in Ireland in May and June is up significantly when com- pared year on year with the same period in 2008.
Increased searches on Hotels.com for Ireland, which compared searches for domestic travel in May and June of this year with the same period in 2008, indicate that some of the most popular holiday spots across the country are attracting more interest from Irish holidaymakers.
“Possible reasons for the trend could be attributed to the fact that the weather in Ireland has been bet- ter this year than the previous two summers and that hotel prices are falling, offering better affordability for all travellers in the current reces- sion,” a according to Hotels.com.
They speculate that prominent domestic travel promotion by Irish agencies such as Discover Ireland
may also be a contributing factor in search behaviour on Hotels.com this year.
Of the most popular destinations for domestic travel searches, Rosslare in Wexford showed the biggest increase year on year, up by 220 per cent for May and June 2009, when compared to the same period in 2008.
In the south and west, Killarney was up 160 per cent, Westport and Lahi- nch were up 155 per cent and 115 per cent respectively. Searches for hotels in the capital rose by 20 per cent in June 09 compared to June ’08 while Galway, the most expensive city to stay in a hotel in Ireland according
to the Hotels.com HPI, saw searches rise by a third (30 per cent).
Alison Couper, director of Com- munications for Hotels.com com- ments; “It certainly seems Irish people are keen to explore holiday options at home this year which is great news for the domestic tourism industry. With the current Hotels. com summer sale on with discounts of up to 50 per cent off, now is prov- ing a great time to grab hotel deals at home and abroad.”