Summer season set to stretch to Halloween

The usual tourism season looks set for an extension this year, with bargain-hunters pushing their staycations out as far as Halloween to avoid the peak.

As hotels and guest houses enter their second weekend since their reopening, demand is high across Galway, with hoteliers in the west of the county and on Inishbofin all but booked-out for July and August.

Pat Coyne of the Dolphin Hotel on Inishbofin told the Connacht Tribune that while there were still a few rooms available in June, July and August – and even September – were all very busy.

“For July and August, we’re up around 90 to 92 per cent capacity; self-catering is even busier and we’re at 100 per cent there, into mid-September.

“We’re getting a lot of enquiries, even up as far as Halloween,” said Mr Coyne, adding that a lot of people had taken a punt on the reopening happening in June and booking as far back as three months ago.

“We were busier with bookings three months ago that we are now to be honest. Even four to six weeks ago, we were at 80 per cent [capacity] for July and August.”

Mr Coyne said their season normally ended at the beginning of October, when they would close up shop for the year.

“We’ve already decided that this year, we’re going to go as far as Halloween anyway because there is solid demand,” he said.

On the mainland, Zoe Coyle of Renvyle House Hotel in Connemara reported a similar level of demand, with bookings almost reaching capacity for the peak season, once limits on numbers to enable social distancing are factored in.

Read the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in all shops now – or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie