Holiday shows due to take place January in Dublin, Belfast and Limerick have been rescheduled to March amid Covid concerns.
The rescheduling decision has been made by organiser Business Exhibitions “to ensure the safety and comfort of all exhibitors, partners and attendees”.
Irish Travel Agents Association chief executive Pat Dawson said: “The annual Holiday World Shows are highlights of the travel and tourism calendar in Ireland.
“Unfortunately, due to concerns surrounding the surge of COVID-19, we feel that it would be in everyone’s best interests to defer by a couple of months into spring 2022, to ensure the health and safety of all parties involved.”
He added: “These last 22 months have been incredibly stressful for the Irish travel industry, with many businesses under immense pressure due to travel restrictions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are looking forward to participating in these events soon so that we can come together as an industry once again.”
Maureen Ledwith, sales director of Holiday World Show, said: “It is with a very heavy heart that we have made the difficult decision to reschedule our Holiday World Shows to the spring time but with the surge in daily cases again of Covid-19 in Ireland and throughout the world, we as organisers have a duty of care to all our visitors, exhibitors and to our staff.
“We understand this will be a huge disappointment to many of our frequent attendees, exhibitors and partners alike, but on balance we consider rescheduling the events by a couple of months to be the best course of action at this time.
“These events will still take place in 2022 and have the ability to showcase all aspects of the travel and tourism industries both home holiday and international, as we look forward to bringing them together again in March.”