The above blog title is of course just another feeble attempt by yours truly to make a play on words. The continent that I am referring to — in case you haven’t guessed — is South America and the reason I decided to give the blog that title is because, of all the continents (with the obvious exception of Antarctica), South America is still waiting to be found by many Irish holidaymakers. I’m by no means an expert but I have traveled a good bit in Peru, Chile and Argentina and hope to undertake my next trip in 2015 to Ecuador (including the Galapagos) and Colombia, now that things appear to have settled down there of late. I’ve often speculated as to why South America isn’t more popular than it is with Irish travelers, particularly when you consider all the boxes that it ticks. Could it be because of the language problem? Doesn’t seem to stop people going to either Spain or Portugal in their droves each year. Is it all those David Attenborough documentaries on the Amazon as we were growing up that showcased giant creepy crawly things straight out of central casting in your worst nightmare? Hasn’t stopped the Irish beating a path to places like Australia. Or perhaps it’s the popular misconception that South America in general is a volatile region of the world where there tends to be a coup or change of government just around the next corner? Again, it has never stopped people going to Italy where they change governments on an almost annual basis. I’ve never really gotten to the bottom of this phenomenon but I have this theory that perhaps part of the problem may be due to the fact that it is not a part of the world that tends to get a ringing endorsement from many travel agents and the simple reason for that is that many of them have never been to South America and thus tend to steer away from the place, lest they expose the extend of their own knowledge deficit.
Travel Centres have therefore decided to do something about this unacceptable status quo and we have teemed up with one of South Americas’ largest and most respected destination management companies (DMC) to bring a series of carefully planned itineraries showcasing the best that five of the continents’ most popular countries have to offer. We will shortly be engaging in a nationwide product workshop tour to educate our affiliated member agents on the delights that these five unique destinations have to offer and we hope to undertake a major familiarization tour of the continent in 2015. in the meantime, we can access all the local knowledge and expertise that we require through our partnership with the aforementioned DMC.
Watch this space for further updates and if you would like to see what itineraries and holiday options are available, click here for more details!
