How to use the growing demand for Ancestry tours

Everyone wants to be Irish at St. Patrick's Day. The annual celebration of the Irish patron saint is expanded in the USA and Canada and is now a secular holiday, which is characterized by Cartoon Shamrocks, Green Guinness Beer and Pub Crawls.

But don't be fooled by the celebrations: there are many Americans and Canadians with regular connections to Ireland who are looking for a more sensible way to combine with their family history.

Heritage (or “roots”) travel customers who want to visit countries in which you have connections on the rise, partly thanks to the popularization of DNA-based Ancestry kits and genealogy services such as Ancestry.com.

In fact, Kensington Tours started his personal Heritage Journeys product in collaboration with Ancestry.com in March 2021.

“Kensington Tours started personal heir trips to offer the most personal, most detailed and privately managed explorations of a customer's family roots,” said Amanda Wells, director of the product, Kensington. “These trips were really gained in popularity in 2022 as soon as the pandemic ended and travel restrictions were lifted worldwide.”

Travel consultants also see the demand, with European countries such as Ireland and Italy leading the charges.

“This trend has grown in recent years, and people book this kind of vacation in different ways,” Adam Duckworth, President and founder of Travelmation, told Fox News Digita (via NY Post).

“Some customers come to us with years of research and want to spend weeks overseas who are completely devoted to their family history.”

Ireland Ancestry Travel: Which customers book

Kensington Tours, an award-winning tour operator who is known for his tailor-made private tours, told TMR that Ireland was one of his top destinations for her ancestors.

“Ireland is one of the most popular goals for this type of travel and we can adapt the trip based on how deep the customer wants to go into the history of his family tree,” said Wells.

Kensington's personal heir trips combine the resources that Ancestry offered with the expertise of the tour operator when curating custom -made private luxury trips.

“While we have travel routes on our website that serve as inspiration, we adapt every trip to the specific needs, interests and budget of the customer,” explained Wells. “For example, we can add a genealogist on site to each of the days and include all websites or places that are relevant for the family history of everyone.”

Tom Casey, founder of Old Sod Travel, told TMR that travelers are attracted to Ancestry tours because they want to understand their roots better – not so much their specific family history.

“We sell Ancestry trips to Ireland, but we like to define it much more generally,” said Casey. “Many of our guests are Irish descent, but are not necessarily attracted to the” old family farm “. For them, Ireland itself is an enriching and worthwhile goal to understand their legacy. ”

In 2012, Casey started Old Sod Travel to help travelers to book golf free to Ireland. Over the years, the tour operator has grown considerably and has expanded Ireland, the British Islands and more recently Scandinavia, Germany and Spain.

Nowadays, travel consultants can rely on old SOD trips for tailor-made tours that are fully customer-oriented and are based on the customer's preferences, including specific likes and requirements.

“Every single 5-star accommodation, every restaurant, every hiking trail, the car and the driver are visited and checked by us,” said Casey.

“We have employees on site in Dublin to answer questions, reservations and all urgent needs in real time. Travel consultants can be confident that their customers are in excellent hands with Old Sod Travel and Old SOD Golf in Ireland as well as for each of our goals, ”he added.

Irish Ancestry tour trends: multi-gene groups & extended season

Both Old Sod and Kensington told TMR that the ancestry tours to Ireland are popular with the group of Muli generation groups

“Overall, we saw a dramatic increase in multi-genre trips [post-pandemic] Since families were restored after many months and in some cases without travel by traveling, ”said Wells.

While multi-and-small groups of friends are the largest market of old sod for ancestral travel, Kensington told TMR that couples also book personal trips.

“It is a wonderful way to learn and celebrate the roots and history of the family and at the same time have the opportunity to explore the country and be together as a family,” said Wells.

While Ancestry tours in Ireland are steadily asked, Casey TMR said that travelers later book in the autumn school season.

“An interesting shift that we have seen lately is a longer travel season that is pushing until the end of November to the end of November,” he said. “It is actually a good time to be Ireland because it is less crowded in the larger cities and the weather can still be mild.”