Waterford people are back booking holidays again, according to a travel agent in the city.

Ian Manto,  General Manager of Harvey Travel in Waterford told Damien Tiernan on Deise Today that he and his colleagues in the tourism business welcome "some sort of normality" after a tough two years.

The majority of Covid restrictions were lifted in Ireland at 6am Saturday January 22nd. While rules still apply for international travel, Ian says there's a sense of light at the end of the tunnel with a rise in people booking holidays again.

"Everybody has had a tough two years, but our industry more so because people couldn't travel," Ian said, adding that "you can see it in the last two weeks or so, the amount of enquiries and bookings that we have gotten, it's fantastic, people are coming in again, the phones are ringing and they have it in their minds, 'we're going on holidays.' "

Ian spoke to Damien about some of the popular holiday destinations for 2022, with the "bucket and spade" resorts of Portugal and Lanzarote remaining top of the list, as well as Italy and Greece.

There has also been reports of increased prices for holidays, due to a more limited supply. Ian told Damien that it could be late 2023 / early 2024 before the industry returns to pre-pandemic levels and flights begin to stabilise.

Ian also had advice for listeners to Déise who are planning a holiday this year, from booking early to taking out travel insurance.

Have a listen to their conversation on Déise Today through the link in this podcast.

For all Déise podcasts, click here.