World Cup mania hits travel agents

January 1994

Wexford travel agents are being inundated with queries from local soccer fans interested in travelling to the World Cup in the USA this summer.

Most of the enquiries are coming from single males, but families thinking of combining a holiday in Florida with attendance at World Cup games in Orlando and New York are also showing interest.

The problem facing local agents is that many of the big tour operators involved have not yet finalised their packages, and information on tickets is confusing.

The best deal that Margaret Browne of O’Leary Travel has seen so far is a package for 12 nights, split between New York and Florida, with tickets for three games and basic accommodation in university dormitories.

Anyone interested in hotel accommodation is going to have be prepared to fork out an additional £1400 to £1500 for the extra luxury, she reckons.

There is no great incentive for travel agents to become involved in selling packages, she added, because instead of paying the usual 10%, the tour operators are offering a handling fee only.

Nonetheless, anyone looking for booking information and assistance on World Cup packages will be entertained.

Down at O’Donohoe Travel, personnel are still waiting for the big operators, JWT and Budget, to release details of their packages. They expect to have them this Friday.

‘A lot of queries so far are for flight only,’ a spokeswoman reported. ‘People are saying they intend to stay with family or friends in New York,’ she explained.