Manic Monday: Irish beat January blues with holiday booking bonanza

Sunday 16th January 2011 – Monday, 17th January will be the busiest day of the year for holiday flight bookings with over 13,000 flights expected to be snapped up by Irish holidaymakers, according to predictions from Visa Europe.

Visa Europe data shows that the number of Irish Visa debit and credit cardholders booking flights peaks at this time every year with the Monday and Tuesday of the third week of January consistently the busiest days of the year.

As airlines cut prices, the cold weather continues, and workers drag themselves back in for the third week of post-Christmas work, consumers are likely to look to a weekend break or a longer summer holiday to help stave off the January blues. Last January, the most popular flight destinations booked were European destinations, and Visa Europe expects Irish consumers to look to similar destinations again this January for quick getaways.

Conor Langford, Vice President Ireland, Visa Europe said: “We expect to see in excess of 13,000 flight bookings taking place on Monday 17th January by Visa debit and credit cardholders as people take advantage of outstanding deals being offered by many airlines and holiday companies. Historically, early January sees a huge surge in bookings as people’s thoughts turn to a sunny weekend away to ease the back-to-work blues. Many consumers are looking to ‘get away from it all’, especially if they are able to do so at a bargain price.”

“City breaks, Valentine’s weekends or just some good old fashioned sunshine are exactly what people feel like at this time of year and we expect beach destinations such as Spain as well as European city breaks to feature strongly in the most popular destinations. As well as these popular choices, our data shows that Irish tourists are still venturing further afield and we expect the United States to remain as popular as ever.  Traditionally we then see a spike of usage abroad by Visa debit and credit cardholders as Ireland ranks as the 4th most expensive country in which to buy all your holiday essentials according to our Suitcase Index research.”