Canadians have always had plenty of reasons to visit Ireland. Now they have 92 more.
According to Tourism Ireland’s Alison Metcalfe, a full 92% of Irish adults aged 12 and older have received their full dose of COVID-19 vaccines. As if that’s not enough, the latest COVID Resilience Report from Bloomberg put the island nation as the best in the world at handling the virus.
“Ireland was in a very strict lockdown and handled COVID I think pretty well,” Metcalfe, Executive Vice President USA and Canada for Tourism Ireland, told me in a one-on-one interview in downtown Toronto on Tuesday, Oct. 26. “There’s been a very gradual reopening.”
Metcalfe said Ireland began allowing international visitors on July 19, and that, as of last week, pretty much all remaining restrictions and capacity restraints are gone for nightclubs, sporting events and other attractions.
Toronto has service to Dublin in place via Aer Lingus, Air Canada and Transat. WestJet will fly Toronto to Dublin starting next May, with three flights a week to start and then daily service later. In fact, Metcalfe said there are more flights from Toronto to Dublin now than there were in 2019. That being said, tourism officials are still waiting for the restoration of Calgary-Dublin and Halifax-Dublin flights with WestJet.
The other battle is to fill the seats, of course, Metcalfe said with a smile. With that in mind, Tourism Ireland officials met with partners and stakeholders for a couple of hours Tuesday afternoon.
Metcalfe said the past 18 months have been about keeping connections with the travel trade and with consumers, monitoring travel sentiment and letting people know that Ireland will be there with open arms when the time is right. They also have done some marketing “to remind people about what Ireland has to offer.”
With vaccination rates so high in Ireland and rising to strong levels in Canada, it’s now time to get Canadians to not just dream about Ireland but to book their trips.
Friends and family trips have picked up, and there appears to be a pent-up demand for European travel in general. Luxury, golf, outdoors and multi-generational trips also are popular.
Dublin, Ireland
“People’s desire for travel is no less than it was pre-COVID,” Metcalfe said. “The biggest barrier seems to be the uncertainty around restrictions, or health and safety protocols.
“We had some focus groups in the U.S. recently and I think one fellow summed it up nicely. He said, ‘The excitement of travel has been replaced by hassle and worries.’ The hassle factor I think is causing some people to sit on the fence a little bit, so I think we have to find a way to articulate … what the situation is in Ireland.
Visitors to the Emerald Isle don’t need a PCR or even a rapid antigen test, just proof of double vaccination. At this point, however, Ireland is NOT accepting mixed doses as proof of vaccination (e.g., AstraZeneca followed by Pfizer or Moderna). A spokesperson for Tourism Ireland told me that the Irish government IS giving its own citizens mixed doses as of now, so they’re hoping a mixed dose policy will be enacted soon for visitors.
Once Canadians are in Ireland, Metcalfe said they’ll find plenty of spots to get a PCR test for their return home.
Folks are still looking to spend a good deal of time outdoors when they travel, and Ireland has plenty of great hiking and nature spots.
“But don’t forget the people and the hospitality,” Metcalfe said. “We don’t want to get away from that.”
A new Game of Thrones Studio Tour is slated to open soon in Banbridge, County Down, and there are new food tours, foraging tours and other things to keep visitors busy.
On top of all that, Metcalfe points out that a flight from Dublin to Toronto is roughly the same distance as Toronto to Vancouver. No offence to British Columbia, but Ireland “has more bragability,” she said with a laugh.
