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Ferry travel helps families recapture lost values

Feed back gathered by Irish Ferries from interviews with passengers
shows that many now see ferry-based motoring holidays as a means of
recapturing some of the values that have been lost in the rules and
regulations now being imposed on travellers by airports and airlines.

Citing the pace of modern life, in which many families no longer even
dine together and have little opportunity to sit down and talk and share
experiences amongst each other, an increasing proportion of people is
coming back to the view that a holiday by car, whether to Britain or
Continental Europe, could be the key to a more enjoyable family life.

Research shows that parents today want more from a holiday than the
simple fact of being away together. In this regard, the Irish Ferries survey
reveals that a leisurely voyage by sea, followed by the freedom which a
car provides to meander from place to place, meeting new people and
exploring new places, is being preferred to a dark-of-night departure by air to a
single resort location.

This trend is particularly evident in families where both parents are
working and where - with ever longer commuting distances - the time
available to spend together is reducing.

As Irish Ferries head of passenger sales Declan Mescall puts it: Summer
holidays and Christmas are the two occasions in the year when parents
have the chance to chill out with their children.

Cruising away on a motoring holiday ensures they will bond better and
build up memories they can share forever. Travelling by ferry they can escape
the rat race and experience a more graceful and gracious pace of life, he
said.

Other factors which ranked high in passenger preferences included the
freedom which having a car provides in terms of being able to go where
one pleases, the absence of luggage restrictions and the avoidance of
intense security vetting.

ENDS.

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