Eoghan Corry Talks Travel – August 2025
Nasty AI developments, Irish hotel offers on the horizon, new winter route from Dublin to Tromsø and whispers of a long-awaited direct flight from Dublin to Tirana – all this and more in Eoghan Corry’s latest travel column.
In this month’s travel industry news, Eoghan Corry highlights a surprising development in Delta Airlines’ use of AI, where passenger booking patterns and revenue records will now influence airfare pricing.
There’s been a notable rise in US visitors to Ireland, and with nearly 4,000 hotel beds returning to the market after government contracts, we can expect luxury hotel deals this November. Also in the spotlight, Aer Lingus has announced a new winter route from Dublin to Tromsø, but could there be more new destinations be on the horizon?
AI gets an attitude
For nearly two years now we have been listening to stories of how artificial intelligence will impact our travel patterns. Everyone has an opinion on it, even ChatGPT and Grok. Michael O’Leary says (and we think he is joking, he is thinking of changing the name of the airline to RyanAI, and Aer Lingus might be tempted to change their airline code from EI to AI if Air India had not got there first. But things appears to have gotten nasty.
Delta Airlines are trialling an AI model to price their air fares, not on how many seats are available, as is traditional, but on how much a customer is willing to pay, based on existing booking patterns and the revenue record of the passenger. The current model covers 3% of fares with aspirations to extend to 20% by year-end. That is fighting dirty, or at least not playing fair (fare?).
Ryanair in their prime
We have still not worked out the logic of Ryanair’s Prime. An airline with an average fare of €51 and a history of two flash sales a month to get their occupancy rate to 95%, fifteen points over the industry model, does not need a loyalty scheme.
Oddly, those following the history of the 40 year old airline, currently celebrating its anniversary, will remember it started out with one, as well as a business class. One of the tickets can be seen in the Little Museum of Dublin. But with Lidl, one of the retail brands upon whom Ryanair closely models their consumer strategy, now operating a loyalty scheme, it appears FOMO has brought Ryanair into uncharted territory.
Last year Ryanair was scathing in their put down of Wizz Air’s attempts to introduce a membership, with Michael O’Leary scratching his head what they were up to and declaring he never quite found out. Led the head scratching continue.
Autumn of opportunity
Hotel breaks in Ireland are coming up a lot more frequently and considerably better value than we saw at the beginning of the year. Early November is showing the best prices for up-market product, after mid-month they climb a bit.
The national inventory has been boosted by the return of nearly 4,000 beds which were on government contacts, including the reopening of hotels which had been wholly (and justifiably) dedicated to the problem. Many of them have seen the reinvestment in the fabric of the hotel that would not have been possible in the dismal post-pandemic time.
Read: 20 Last minute hotel deals in Ireland
The secrets of the CSO
The fuss has largely died down over Central Statistics Office figures for January to May, which claimed our tourists were disappearing at the rate of 28% since 2024 and 48% since pandemic. Now they are disappearing by 2% which is being highlighted as a breakthrough of sorts.
The more recent figures are more aligned with what the industry is saying on the ground. Hoteliers say occupancy is stable, and AirBnB say it is down 1%. Airport figures are up (5.8% at Dublin, 10.4% at Shannon and a whopping 14.2% at Cork), but this can be accounted with by outbound traffic. Which brings us to the obvious explanation for why the figures are so askew.
We know on an island how many people are arriving and how many are leaving but for years, it appears, inbound passengers were being overcounted and the outbound passengers were being undercounted. The inbound/outbound ratio in June was calculated at 31/69. In June 2017 it was calculated at 55/45 and the previous month we were told it was 60/40.
Booking patterns have not changed that dramatically in the eight years since, only the methodology has. The hope is that the figures will be more credible from now on.
How long for the Yanks to overtake the Brits?
Another hidden trend buried in the June CSO figures, Canada and the United States are now 30.1% of total arrivals, while Britain is down to 34.2% and mainland Europe 30.7%.
With numbers flying in from the USA on the rise thanks to all those new trans-Atlantic services (and also rising in the other direction, despite the depiction of an immigration service pulling out five year old social media poats), and Britain still in its Brexit tailspin of decline, how long before Europe and North America overtake our biggest inbound market since tourism was invented (and it was NOT invented by Michael O’Leary, though he sometimes likes to claim otherwise).
Into the darkness: Tromsø here we come
One of the most beautiful winter destinations in Europe does not have the appeal of a Santa hut, but it has a lot more. It seems an odd choice. Before we put on the snow shoes and head for the husky drive, there are a few hurdles to overcome.
Tromsø is very expensive for hotels due to high demand and lack of beds. Winter seasonal routes are now a thing, with two from Ryanair and seven from Aer Lingus, of which three are charter. There are lots of cities looking for summer routes, but both of the Irish airlines want partners to light up their cash flow in the dark months. So keep an eye out for more announcements in the Cancun category.
The mystery destination
What else have we to look forward to in winter? Tirana. Keep a few lekes in the drawer.
Read: Top things to do in Albania and where to stay
Eoghan Corry is Ireland’s leading travel commentator and aviation specialist in Ireland, as well as being a historian, author and broadcaster. He has extensively travelled as a travel journalist and has been a speaker and moderator at tourism and aviation conferences including the World Tourism Forum, Tourism Ireland and Thailand Tourism.
