 or holidays, but can we book this year with a degree of certainty? Will we get away and back with little or no issues? And what destinations are likely to be popular? Will it be more like a sort of a holiday of old? Emma McCure is director of Atlantic travel in Letter Kenney and joins us now streaming as well as live on the radio. So Emma, good afternoon. Happy New Year to you. Happy New Year to you too, John. Thanks for having me on. No problem. Let's talk of it. First of all, a vaccine search. So a bit of good news this week in that on our vaccine, our vaccine search are going to be updated and we're not going to need, we're not going to need, we are, when it comes to travel back into the country, we're not going to need a negative test. So that should improve matters. That was, it was very good news now that we got this week. And possibly a little earlier than we were expecting it to be announced, to be honest. But I think it just is, it's kind of going to set in stone now how the year for travel is going to be. And I think it has been proven that, you know, the EU digital cert has been very effective and used very effectively throughout Europe. And as you said, the boosters now have been added. I actually got mine this morning, which was brilliant. So everybody will receive them by the same means that they received their cert. So if you got it in the post originally, you'll receive it through the post again. And if you received it by email, the first time for your initial vaccination, that's the way that you'll get your updated cert this time. Nothing else on it changes except the last date that shows that you received a vaccination. So it's pretty much the same and it's used the same way. It's going to be valid from the 1st of February, it'll be valid for nine months. So it's important that that the booster is added because, you know, a lot of people were thinking, well, I got boosted away back, you know, near the start of last year. And if, you know, there's a time limit in some places, so therefore it's going to be up. But now, if they got the booster more recently, it means that from the 1st of February, that they're good for nine months. That is correct. And from the 1st of February, that's going to be the way it is throughout Europe. So anyone who received their initial vaccine in May of 2021, they will be coming near to the end of the validity and they need to ensure that the booster is showing on their new COVID cert. The alternative to that would be that they will have to test. It will preclude anyone from travelling, but it will mean that you'll have to have a PCR test coming back into Ireland. So it's, you know, if somebody is very close to the line in terms of not receiving it before they go, it just would mean that there's an extra step involved. But most people should have it, I'd say within the next few days. By early next week, I would imagine that most of them will have been rolled out. So no vaccine, Sarah, you can still take a test then if it's negative, then it's good. That is correct. That is correct. And you mentioned also as well the removal of testing now for inbound into pre-departure, inbound into Ireland, which is fantastic news. It means that anyone that has their cert doesn't have to test. And that also is coming into play as well for Northern Ireland. So I know that a lot of your listeners would also use Belfast. So from today, the same rules apply going into Belfast. So no pre-departure testing involves. That means when you're in resort or wherever you're coming from, you don't need to take that test to arrive back into either Belfast or Dublin. Well, what about going out? Are the rules still different for different countries? Or are these new rules now across the EU, for instance, from the 1st of February? Yeah. Well, I suppose when Omicron happened in December, Ireland and Portugal were the only two that went out on their own and required testing into the countries. Ireland has lifted theirs. Portugal hasn't. But a couple of others in recent times have amended the restrictions that are in place to enter. So for example, yesterday, Bulgaria put in place that you need a PCR as well as your vaccination cert. Austria and France also require different regulations. So in Austria, if you don't have your booster, you need to take a PCR test. So yes, most countries that we would be looking at for summer sun are, there is no testing, but there are what would probably be known as the ski destination. So Austria, Switzerland, France, they still have some. So your listeners would need to be very careful if they are going to one of those destinations to be very careful as well. If they're flying into an airport, for example, say they fly into Munich or Venice and they're going on to Innsbruck or somewhere, if they cross the border into another country, they're still obliged. So they might need to start to get into Munich or into Venice. But if they plan going skiing in Innsbruck, they will need. So people just to be aware that that is in place. Okay. So before the pandemic, you cross the border and it would be a fairly routine. But now there might be, you know, there might be different rules when it comes to a COVID surge. All right then. All that aside, how is it shaping up? Because last year, a lot of people sort of dipped their toes back in, went abroad, took a chance. For the most part, worked out okay. Well, the latter half of the year. Anyhow, how is, how is this year shaping up at the moment? What's the indications? It's looking very positive. I think this year we're going to see the return to travel that we probably thought 2021 was going to bring. For numbers of reasons, the COVID surge has been a fantastic vaccination rollouts throughout Europe and the US have also meant that, you know, we're much further ahead. In terms of capacity out of Ireland, it's actually quite ahead of what we would have expected six months ago. So there is good capacity out of there at the moment, which means the pricing is still quite competitive for the summer. So anyone that's looking at traveling this year, there is still great value to be got. The prices just haven't gone to those ridiculous crazy boom time prices just yet. So capacity would determine prices for the most part. And there's plenty of capacity, there's plenty of flights at the moment. There is various destinations. Yes, absolutely. Okay. Well, what about pricing then like in countries that you go to? What about resorts? Have you noticed in the last year or two because of the pandemic, the prices have shot up? I know, to be honest, I would have found if you're comparing like for like with our domestic tourism and abroad, the pricing didn't increase last year. And even this year, pricing hasn't seemed to gone up with anything. It's actually gone down. For the likes of hotels, taking the flight element out of it, it hasn't increased. Like for example, for the February midterm, you could go to Tenerife for about £850 for family of four out of Belfast. So that's your flights, your transfers, your accommodation. So even at midterm and going into early summer, there's incredible value to be got there, which say 2019, 2018, you would have been looking at much more inflated prices. So they haven't increased the prices just yet. That may happen in a couple of months when they see that the capacity is filling and the rooms are filling in the hotels and that they, you know, they know that the demand is there. But at the moment, pricing is very competitive. In hospitality, the prices went up here and providers will say, well, listen, we had no choice given the circumstances and given the sort of couple of years that we've had with them, stop, start, the cost of products going up and all the rest of it and staffing issues. Have you noticed the same abroad, you know, when you go abroad, when you go to Spain or France or wherever, you know, the cost of a coffee or the cost of a pint or whatever, or even the cost of a night, have they gone up in many places? You mentioned there that in some cases providers have actually lowered their prices, but in hospitality, the simple things, have they gone up? No, they don't seem to have gone up. Now, traditionally, they're always slightly cheaper. And that's because I suppose there's a different cost base abroad than there is here. And you will have resorts that are more expensive, some more expensive than others, like if you're going to Monaco or Santa Pe, you're always going to pay a premium for your coffee on the piazza. But in, you know, in our mainstream resorts, where you're looking at the Blairx, Canary Islands, the price of eating out a pint, a glass of wine, they have not increased. So you're not going to be looking at inflation on, you might get somewhere relatively inexpensive, but you're not going to end up paying on the other end of it either. They pretty much have stayed the same. You look at a map at the moment, and it's all red with COVID cases. It's red, red, red. The whole of Europe seems to be red. So people are waiting for this to peak and then start to go down. And are they booking now in numbers confident that things will be getting back to normal come the summertime? Or are there, do you see people already now taking a chance and saying, well, you know, this is a new year and I'm just fed up with all of this and I can go and going. Now, the here and now. Yeah, I think in terms of the red, the colour of the map on Europe, we are in part of that red as well. So I think a lot of people stop processes, you know, if we are on the higher end of infection rates here, well, then, you know, you kind of have to look at the balance of risk there. But what I think people's biggest fear up until now was getting stuck abroad, you know, when they had to test coming home, that has been removed. So really compared to you said holidays of old and the way we used to do it, it's pretty much the same. If you get sick abroad now, you will have to go to hospital if you break a leg. So I think COVID will be the same as that. You won't have to test going out, you won't have to test going home. But the restrictions that are in place, they're not so much focused on COVID as much, if you know what I mean. It's just the basis now for travel is definitely going to be in vaccine and boosters, not where you're coming from and not where you're going to. What about the dreaded locator form? They are and they can be very glitchy. Especially if you're on a mobile, you know, with somewhere with very little Wi-Fi. But yeah, that is part of and that is not going to disappear in the foreseeable future. We will need one entering and we will need one coming back into Ireland and it's just going to be the same as having your passport and your boarding pass. I think my tip is the more you do, the better you'll become with them. Finally, Emma, where's the hot destinations this year excused upon? Where's good value and where's proving to be popular? Definitely, when I say Spain, I'm including mainland Spain, the Canary Islands, New York and Minorca, Ibiza. There's incredible value to be gotten there right up until the end of June. The US is proving very popular as well, Orlando, New York City Breaks. Just one thing I would say about when you are going to the US, different states have different rules as well for when you are eating indoors and stuff like that. The likes of New York at the moment, over fives need to be vaccinated to eat indoors and to do any indoor attractions. I know that I have read of families being over there over Christmas and they were extremely restricted because we treat children as under 12s here. In the state of New York, it's treated as under five in terms of vaccination. Just be very, very careful. Popular US bucket list stuff, people have been waiting to do it for the last two years and then there's just the traditional bucket and spade, two weeks in the sun, feet up. I think we're all looking forward to that this year. Sounds good for sure. Someone's asking about the rules for international travel. Well, I think you've gone through most of them and the advice would be just to do a wee bit of extra research and we're mentioning there at different states in the United States, for instance, of different rules about hospitality. The beauty is that if anyone's booking through yourselves, they'll get all the info. Yes, and for your listeners, if they want to go on to Reopen EU, it's a very, very good website. You can download the app and it will give great information on restrictions within European countries. So Reopen EU is great. Good one. Good tip. Emma McHugh of Atlantic Travel. Thanks a million. Appreciate it. Thank you, John. New this week in home store and more. All fireside accessories are half price, but better hurry because when all our half price fireside accessories are gone,