Despite the cancellation of hundreds of overseas bookings in the first five months of the year, the River Shannon cruiser hire business is reporting its best season in nearly eight years due to an unexpected boost from so-called "staycationers."
"In the first few days we hadn't enough people here in the office to answer the phones with people from abroad ringing to get their money back for boats, and then in the second part of the week it all changed and we hadn't enough people to take calls from the domestic market trying to hire a boat for their holidays!"
Boat traffic on the River Shannon is up by over 30% according to Éanna Rowe of Waterways Ireland, who says the new staycation customers will help to stabilise jobs in the sector.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more: