Q & A with Gerry Benson, Director General of Travelbiz.ie

Q & A with Gerry Benson
Director General of Travelbiz.ie
By Jose Carlos de Santiago

Among many other services related to communications for tourism, the Travelbiz.ie portal releases a digital newsletter twice a week that reaches 6,000 travel agents in Ireland and North Ireland, as well as tourism offices, airlines and other companies from Europe and the United States. With Mr. Benson, a great connoisseur of the industry and specifically of the Irish tourism sector, we talked about the characteristics and current trends in the market.

How many tourism fairs do you attend every year?
I usually go just to two important fairs: Pow Wow in the United States, and World Travel Market (WTM) in London.

Have you been to Central America and the Caribbean?
I haven’t been to any countries in Central America and I know little about the Caribbean. My job is based on the trends of our market, and most of the tourists coming from Ireland visit mainly countries with coasts to the Mediterranean, and Florida, United States.

Are there many of them who go to Spain?
Yes, many of them travel to Spain. Spain is the major travel destination for Ireland. In general, Ireland’s tourist market is interested in traditional sun-and-beach destinations, with style, but there is currently a growing business in the golf segment. Ireland offers many excellent golf courses, just like Spain does.

In Spain, do they go usually to the islands or the peninsular territory?
They visit mostly the peninsula. The most visited islands are the Canaries, especially in the winter.

Are Irish travelers interested in combining stays in the peninsula and on the islands?
They generally go to a single destination, they don’t combine.

How much would you say an Irish tourist usually spends abroad?
The Irish spend a lot of money in their holidays because they like to have a good time. When they go on vacation they go to restaurants, bars and other sites. People from some European countries like to look after their money, but the Irish just want to have a good time. I would say they spend an average of 700 to 800 Euros per person in the destinations they visit.

What do you think Spain should do to increase the number of Irish tourists?
People are going beyond traditional sun and beach tourism. Travelers are looking for more and more activity and variety in their holidays. Some resorts have understood that, but I consider that there are many hotels and other companies that have not incorporated it.

Emerging markets from the east represent at present a competition for Spain…
What it’s happening is that traveling to destinations of the Far East, and even Australia is becoming cheaper and this sets a serious competition to Spain in other European markets. Even so, I think prices are still important because the Irish market is being cautious due to economy problems, and Spain benefits from that as travel expenses are much lower.

What do you think of Pow Wow as a fair?
Pow Wow is always a good fair. From the point of view of a journalist it is excellent. I think the press conferences have been very good and I’ve been in all of them. Many years ago I was a tour operator, and I’ve always found coming to Pow Wow brings benefits: generate new ideas, mane new contacts and renew the old ones.