As the Icelandic volcano crisis continues to wreak havoc across European flight schedules the upcoming summer and autumn holiday maker traffic is in limbo. Those who are reliant on air travel to get themselves and their families to their holiday destinations over the coming months are facing an uncertain run up to the hopeful start of their vacations.
The industry is being rocked by uncertainty as people who traditionally would be parting with their hard earned cash during April & May are holding off till the very last minute before booking anything.
As always there is a silver lining to any cloud. Both Eurostar channel tunnel and the UK ferries have seen huge growth in demand due to the airspace closure as many people have forced to change their travel plans at the last minute. Not forgetting the UK & Republic of Ireland’s own Tourism industry who are naturally going to benefit from the uncertainty created.
This however is little consolation for the overseas holiday home owner, as those relying solely on their own English speaking markets, and websites with .ie & .co.uk domains fail to deliver on the most important market – Mainland Europeans. Apart from the obvious benefit that their public holidays are not generally the same as ours they have the huge advantage of not needing to catch a flight to arrive safely and timely at their holiday home.
Although English is widely spoken throughout Europe most holiday makers prefer to search the internet in their own language, and to hope that they would make the giant leap when looking for a property in Spain, for example, that the property might be owned by an Englishman is exceedingly short sighted.
Those second home owners who are suffering a spate of cancellations need to react quickly and make sure the season does not pass them by – maximum exposure is always the key to marketing and choosing to ignore the European market should be done with caution. Make sure your marketing strategy is working for you.
