Chaos and costs: is that what we can expect from the summer of 2022? – The Irish Times

With chaos at airports, passport delivery delays, and skyrocketing costs for hotels and car rentals at home and abroad, it’s surprising that anyone is planning to travel like the first summer since the world began. to reopen in the post- Pandemic period dawns.

But despite all the challenges, travel is very much on the minds of many people.

The first headaches that many have encountered have been at Dublin airport. The daa, the authority that runs Dublin airport, is clearly struggling to deal with the post-Covid world. Huge delays towards the end of March have been repeated in recent days with people missing flights and being forced to queue for hours as they try to get through security.

Then there is the high cost of car rental, both at home and abroad. A combination of a car shortage and a surge in demand has seen prices soar around the world with two-week car rentals in normally cheap destinations like Spain and Portugal more than doubling in recent weeks.

Overseas hotels and restaurants are also seeking higher prices, and while the aviation industry has recovered faster than many might have thought even three months ago, seats will be scarcer in the coming weeks and prices will increase.

The picture even closer to home is, if anything, worse.

Hotel prices have increased by more than 20 percent compared to the same period in 2019, while availability in areas where people would like to stay again is very scarce.

Food prices have gone up. Energy prices have gone up.

But despite all the doom and gloom, summer vacation is still something many people look forward to.

Fionn Davenport is a travel writer who talks to In The News about some of the challenges potential tourists will face in the coming weeks and months, and perhaps some of the things to look forward to.