2010 Travel Plans with Sceptre Tours

With just one month left in the first quarter of 2010, Sceptre Tours, the largest tour operator to Ireland in terms of passengers moved (Sceptre also sells the UK, Italy, and river cruising), is seeing the travel landscape to Europe already beginning to change.

According to Chris Accomando, Sceptre's President, here's what travel agents can expect to see in the coming months:

•A 15 to 20% increase in air prices due to the reduced capacity by the airlines.

•With the value of the Euro against the dollar coming down (it now sits at 1.38), additional demand to Europe will no doubt be driven since this is a major factor impacting the cost of meals or excursions while clients are on vacation. With the dollar gaining strength and the cost of product in Europe coming down, this gives vacationers greater savings.

•With a modest increase in travel demand so far this year, discounting is still happening, but the discounts are not as deep as last year. There are still some great buying opportunities out there, but the hotels and airlines are not going to give it away as they did in 2009.

•The average spend per client is on the rise this year. Travelers are including more excursions or upgrading to a slightly better hotel or car. Sceptre's sales of Business Class air has increased 1000% over 2009 which is a very pleasant surprise.

•Finally, Ireland has seen quite a dramatic increase as a location for a destination wedding. Even with the Euro-dollar exchange, many castles and manor house hotels are offering tremendous rates on weddings from as few as 10 to as many as 200 people. As a result, Sceptre has expanded its Groups Department to handle the increased requests for group travel to Ireland for friends and family who want to participate in the wedding celebration.


ABOUT SCEPTRE TOURS
Based in Lynbrook, New York and founded in 1981, Sceptre Tours is a family-owned and operated company with a philosophy of providing travelers an incredible experience to Ireland, Britain, Italy, as well as River Cruising, at the best value and with the best customer service. Sceptre specializes in offering completely customizable vacations which are bookable online in real time and offers escorted tours to Ireland, Britain, and Italy as well as river cruises, plus golf tours, walking tours, activities and group programs.

To visit the Sceptre Tours website, please visit www.sceptretours.com or call 800-221-0924.