18 minute read
Travel & Leisure
GREECE, long-time popular holiday spot with Irish tourists. Is a place where relaxation and renewal reign supreme. And, if you’re really looking to kick back and do nothing at all, there are plenty of all-inclusive resorts in Greece to try, too.
From adults-only and family-friendly to spa getaways and adventure- packed fun, here are 10 of the best all-inclusive resorts in the Greece.
Advertisement
1. Aeolos Beach Hotel, Corfu
Modern and chic, the Aeolos Beach Hotel is the spot to be for those looking for a hotel they never have to leave to have fun. e Greek island resort includes two pools, a full-service spa, and plenty of activities like tennis, tness classes, beach volleyball, and more. e hotel also o ers nightly entertainment featuring local musicians and dancers. e all-inclusive option includes all meals at the main restaurant, unlimited bottled wine, beer, soft drinks, sun beds and umbrellas at all pools and the beach, kids club, access to the sauna and tness room, and more.
2. Ikos Olivia, Halkidiki
Ikos Olivia is another excellent family-friendly option. At the all-inclusive resort, children stay free and can play all day in the kids club, which comes fully sta ed on-site. Guests can choose between classic rooms or private bungalows, but no matter which one they choose, they’ll Ind Mediterranean-inspired furnishings and oor-toceiling sliding doors that open to either private balconies, patios, and even some with private pools. Here, guests also have access to the hotel’s private beach, several pools, a full-service spa, and more.
3.Kiani Beach Resort, Crete
Kiani Beach is yet another family-friendly spot. However, this one comes with a little bit of a twist. It comes with so many activities for children (and even baby care) that parents may not even see their little ones during the entirety of the holiday. And that’s okay because there is plenty of fun to be had for adults, too, including sun loungers by the pool, spa packages, water sports activities, and more. At night, the entire family can come together again to watch the live entertainment, ranging from local music to magic acts that are sure to delight.
4.Creta Maris, Crete
Attention foodies, this one is for you. As we mentioned above, Greece is a food lover’s paradise. Honour that by booking a stay at Creta Maris, a hotel that is home to six restaurants and seven bars, including casual spots you can belly up to right o the beach and upscale dining venues that you’ll most certainly want to look your best for in the evening. e resort will even set up a spectacular private dining experience for you overlooking the craggy seaside so that you can dine by the sea with just some candlelight and the moon lighting your way.
Seven heavenly spots for a family holiday in Greece
5. Sentido Port Royal Villas & Spa, Rhodes
For a kid-free, all-inclusive getaway, make your way to Sentido Port Royal Villas & Spa on the island of Rhodes. e hotel comes out tted with luxury furnishings, local artwork, manicured grounds that include plenty of olive trees, and a glimmering pool that is perfect for a dip in the middle of a hot day. Guests can choose from rooms, suites, and bungalows, including beachfront accommodations that also come with private pools. Just make sure to grab the all-inclusive package at checkout to ensure your meals are included.
6. Blue Lagoon Village, Kos
While the Blue Lagoon Village in Kos is most certainly beautiful with its earthen rooms and massive picture windows, the real star of the show here is the drop-dead gorgeous landscape. e all-inclusive hotel includes direct access to the beach, so guests can walk right from their rooms into the ocean. e resort is also home to Aegean Main, a restaurant with indoor and outdoor sections, the alassa Fish tavern, the Susshimi Sushi restaurant, and the Golden Sun Chinese restaurant for anyone looking for a global meal. e resort is located less than 30 minutes from Kos Town, making it a great jumping-o point for exploration.
7. Lux Me White Palace
Grecotel Luxury Resort, Crete With a name like “Lux Me,” you know this place has to be posh. e name certainly Its; this all-inclusive resort in Crete boasts white-washed rooms, including several “swim-up” suites located by the massive pool. ere are also panoramic views of the ocean, an outdoor cinema for entertainment, and plenty of activities to try out as well. e resort even comes with its own working farm that guests of all ages are welcome to visit during their stay.
AUSTRALIA and Singapore will further ease Covid entry requirements, decreasing costs for travellers and streamlining the travel experience.
From April 17, Australia will drop the requirements for pre-departure testing. Passengers will no longer be required to present Covid test results, removing a signi cant cost burden for tourists headed down under.
International travellers into and out of Australia will still be required to provide proof of double vaccination against Covid-19. Travellers will also still be required to wear a mask while on international ights based on medical advice.
Australia’s Health Minister, Greg Hunt, welcomed the changes as a practical step towards rebuilding the tourism industry.
“Given that the vaccination requirements remain and the masking requirements, the medical advice is that [the test] would no longer be required,” he said.
Meanwhile, Singapore has now scrapped its Vaccinated Travel Lanes and Passes, replacing the program with a ‘Vaccinated Travel Framework,’ as the country moves closer to pre-pandemic tourism levels. Fully-vaccinated travellers will no longer need travel passes to enter, and all ights will be treated the same.
Despite the removal of past-arrival testing, travellers will still be required to take a PCR test before traveling to Singapore. Additionally, incoming visitors must have insurance of SG$30,000 ( €20,000) or higher that also covers Covid treatment expenses, as well as ll out the streamlined electronic SG Arrival Card. ere will be no test upon arriving in Singapore.
Further easing of Covid rules down under
THE Twilight Community group received some great news from their Diversity Awareness Visibility Inclusion Development (DAVID) Team recently on the traction this programme is gaining with not just the LGBTQAI+ Communities but their families, friends and colleagues across Ireland. e young vibrant team that Inclusion O cer Stephen Mungovan has developed are making contact directly with the Student Union bodies and the LGBTQAI+ communities to inform all their members of the DAVID project and what its aims and aspirations are.” ey team, which has young members who are engaging directly with these groups and institutes, show that this programme is welcome and needed as we strive to have a society for all men, women, boys and girls in their diversity” Mr. Mungovan said recently after the Trans life Kilkenny meeting which was held in the Twilight International Cultural House Kilkenny.
He also said” is is one of the objectives of DAVID, A safe and secure space where all groups can meet together to talk and as we say hold ‘courageous conversations’. at is where all comments and views are welcome and everyone’s point of view is valued”
Emmanuel Samuel is a Emmanuel Samuel is a WIT graduate and a vet-WIT graduate and a veteran of many Erasmus + eran of many Erasmus + programmes across programmes across Europe and Africa.” Europe and Africa.” e DAVID programme aligns perfectly with the Erasmus + programmes. ese are projects of exchange and education in a non-judgmental, non-judgmental, soft learning envi-soft learning environment, where all ronment, where all are welcome regardless are welcome regardless of your sexual orientation or of your sexual orientation or gender” Emmanuel added that his peers and colleagues in our European partners are enquiring as to the possibility of Twilight’s DAVID project becoming a European wide programme in the near further. e Twilight Community Group Management and Board of Directors believe this is a strong possibility for their 2023 programme of events.
Kilkenny’ GLOW UP Ireland Star Michael Ryan spoke to Frank Tynan about his living experiences growing up in Urlingford, moving to Dublin and his career as a Make Artist and this is available now in Twilight’s YouTube channel studio TEN and their website
DAVID: Michael Ryan – Twilight Community Group e Project DAVID is named e Project DAVID is named after Ireland’s lead-after Ireland’s lead ing LGBTQAI+ ing LGBTQAI+ Advocates, Advocates, David Patrick Bernard Norris (born 31 July 1944)] David Norris is an Irish scholar, independent Senator and civil rights activist Internationally, Norris is credited with having “managed, almost single-handedly, to overthrow the anti-homosexuality law which brought about the downfall of Oscar Wilde”, a feat he achieved in 1988 after a fourteen-year campaign. He has also been credited with being “almost single-handedly responsible for rehabilitating James Joyce in once disapproving Irish eyes”.
Senator Norris is a former university lecturer and a member of the Oireachtas, serving in Seanad Éireann since 1987. He was the rst openly gay person to be elected to public o ce in Ireland. A founder of the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform, he is also a prominent member of the Protestant Church of Ireland.
He was a candidate for President of Ireland in the October 2011 election. He topped numerous opinion polls and was favourite among members of the Irish public for the position but withdrew from the race months before the election, before returning to the race in September 2011, eventually losing out to Ireland’s current President Michael D Higgins.
Mr Norris has a wonderful video message for all the team and participants and will be aired shortly as part of a short documentary on Senator Norris’s life and great deeds to date.
is programme will be available on www.twilight.ie
Up to 4,658 complaints heard by finance ombudsman
THE Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (Acting), MaryRose McGovern, has published an Overview of Complaints for 2021, detailing the activities of the Of ce of the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO) in 2021. e overview details the 4,658 complaints received by the FSPO in 2021 and details the value of more than €7m in complaint outcomes during 2021, including:
• €4.6m in mediated settlements in 1,153 complaints in the FSPO’s Dispute Resolution Service. • €941,328 in compensation to complainants directed in the Ombudsman’s legally binding decisions following the formal investigation process. • €944,167 paid to complainants by providers to resolve complaints during the FSPO’s formal investigation process.
• A further €667,993 in redress from providers, available for acceptance by complainants. 91 complaints were not upheld because the o er in question was reasonable and adequate to redress the conduct leading to the complaint, and no formal direction by the Ombudsman was required.
In total, the FSPO closed 5,010 complaints in 2021, and the overview details the manner in which these complaints were closed and the outcome of complaints. In accordance with the FSPO’s governing legislation, the overview identi es those nancial service providers against which three or more complaints were upheld, during 2021.
Key statistics in the overview include: • 4,658 complaints were received in 2021 and 5,010 complaints were closed through the FSPO’s various processes.
• e FSPO received complaints from every county in 2021, including 85 complaints from consumers in Kilkenny. • 23% of complaints concerned an issue of customer service. • Banking complaints represented 57% of all complaints received, and the conduct most complained of for those banking complaints was customer service. • Complaints concerning mortgages accounted for 23% of all complaints received in 2021. is includes 250 new tracker mortgage complaints during 2021, twelve years after the rst tracker mortgage complaints were received in 2009 by the FSPO’s predecessor, the Financial Services Ombudsman’s Bureau. • 27% of complaints (1,257) received related to insurance products, with complaints most commonly concerning claim handling or rejection of an insurance claim.
Pandemic toll on hotel biz is threatened by VAT increase
ESCALATING business costs, particularly in energy, are placing an incredible strain on hotels and guesthouses across Ireland seeking to rebuild after an unprecedented two years of the pandemic, according to Elaina Fitzgerald Kane, President of the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF).
Speaking as over 450 hoteliers and guesthouse operators gathered for the IHF’s annual conference, she said the Government must do everything within its power to minimise the impact of the current economic scenario on tourism, with the rst step being to scrap the proposed increase in tourism VAT rate planned for later this year.
“Having only just weathered the storm of Covid-19, hoteliers and guesthouse operators are now facing into a gale of spiralling operational costs which are putting an unbearable strain on their businesses. Our sector – which is at the heart of a communities throughout the country supporting more than 270,000 livelihoods pre-pandemic – is being placed under real pressure by price hikes across all areas of operation.
“Hotels and guesthouses are reporting year-on-year increases of 88% in energy, 22% in water and 18% in food and beverage, as well as signi cant insurance increases. Given that we already operate in a highcost environment, these levels of increase are placing an incredible strain on businesses, with three in four hotels (77%) signi cantly impacted by escalating business costs.
Ms Fitzgerald Kane said that to maintain international competitiveness in this escalating cost environment it was essential for the Government to provide certainty on the continuation of the 9% VAT rate for the tourism industry.
“ e Government has gone the distance throughout this very trying pandemic in terms of supporting livelihoods and businesses in the tourism sector, and this has put us in a stronger position to recover than some of our international competitors. Continuing that support now with an extension of the 9% VAT rate, until business levels stabilise, will underpin this great work and have a direct impact on the 270,000 tourism and hospitality livelihoods which one in 10 of all Irish jobs, with 70% of these jobs located outside of Dublin,” she said.
“ e certainty over the 9% VAT rate is vitally important. Many hotels – as well as tour operators – begin contracting for international business up to two years in advance. Our current 9% VAT rate has only been committed to until September this year and this date is now looming large. e continued ambiguity is causing uncertainty in our highly competitive international marketplace and particularly as we seek to restore international connectivity to our island nation and rebuild international tourism in the aftermath of the pandemic. “Increasing Ireland’s VAT rate to 13.5% would make Ireland a European outlier. Of the 27 EU countries, the VAT rate on accommodation is lower than 9% in nine countries, is 9% in six countries and exceeds 13.5% in only one country: Denmark.” She said tourism would recover, but it would take time, and businesses needed certainty to allow them to plan properly for this year, and indeed years, ahead. e 9% VAT rate had proven to be the right rate of VAT when compared to our European competitors and must be maintained. SOCIAL entrepreneurs are stepping up to address urgent social problems and ll the gaps in services and supports across the areas of mental health, the environment and gender equality. at’s according to notfor-pro t organisation Social Entrepreneurs Ireland (SEI) as the deadline approaches for its 2022 programmes. e organisation says it has seen a growing number of applicants putting forward innovative solutions to these problems in the past three years.
Since its foundation in 2004, SEI has supported more than 500 social entrepreneurs around Ireland who have directly impacted the lives of millions of people. Alumni include Pieta House, the Irish Men’s Shed Association, FoodCloud, GIY, the Shona Project and Women for Election.
Commenting, CEO of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, Tim Gri ths said: “Social entrepreneurs play a crucial role in solving existing and emerging social problems. In the past three years, we’ve seen close to a quarter of all applications to SEI addressing mental health problems in response to escalating demands on our health system.
“We’ve also seen signi cant numbers of people coming up with innovative solutions in the areas of education, the environment and active citizenship, of which gender equality emerged as a key issue in applications last year,” he said.
“ is year SEI has up to 50 programme places and €140,000 funding available to people all across Ireland who are stepping up with solutions to the social problems they see impacting their communities. It is often the people closest to the problems who have the best solutions, but the least resources to put those ideas into action.
“We want to let everyone know that their idea or solution does not need to be perfect or complete. We’re looking for people from all backgrounds with courage, ambition, and a passion for social change who want to take the rst step in their journey, or those who have already taken those rst steps and who need support to grow their solution and take it to the next level.” SEI’s Ideas Academy is a three month programme for people with innovative early-stage ideas to solve social problems. With up to 45 places available, the programme aims to support a new generation of social entrepreneurs by providing participants with the training and direction they need as they take the rst steps from idea to action. Participants also have the opportunity to pitch for a portion of a €40,000 seed fund at the end of the programme to pilot their idea.
Well-being: Orna and Niamh Murray, co-founders of Move2B and graduates of the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Ideas Academy
Drive for improved mental health
SOCIAL entrepreneurs are Association, FoodCloud, “ is year SEI has up to take it to the next level.”
* Applications are open until midnight on Tuesday, April 5. Interested candidates can apply or nd out more at socialentrepreneurs.ie.
Clune joins Euro Covid-19 study group
THE Ireland South MEP Deirdre Clune has been appointed to the new European Union Committee investigating the Covid-19 response.
She is the only Irish representative among the 38 members of the Special Committee.
Ms Clune will be part of the grouping charged with investigating the bloc’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. e Fine Gael MEP is the only Irish representative among the 38 members of the special committee to study Europe’s reaction to the pandemic and prepare us for future emergencies, which is beginning its work this month.
MEP Clune told e Kilkenny Observer: “We have learnt so much about Covid-19 in the last two years but it is still a ecting thousands of people in Ireland and many millions throughout the wide world.
“As we continue to respond to these challenges it is vital that we put this experience to good use.” e committee would be studying how the EU institutions responded to the pandemic, the vaccine strategy, and the level of co-ordination between member states.
Measures such as lockdowns, border closures, mask mandates, and the e ect on work would also be evaluated.
Ms Clune said Ireland had a unique perspective on this pandemic and it was vital that it was included in this European evaluation.
In the next 12 months the committee would prepare a set of recommendations to ensure we were better equipped to deal with future pandemics and global emergencies.
Michael ‘Ducksie’ Walsh, champion of champions
Neighbourhood project highlights powerful Community history
e Kilkenny Observer takes a trip down memory lane with the Butts Community Centre
PHOTO CREDITS: COMMUNITY HALL PROJECT; MIKE KEALY; PAT SHORTALL
A QUESTION? What community in Kilkenny boasts the most All Ireland titles?
It’s an interesting question and would deserve to be included as a tiebreaker in a pub quiz.
One obvious answer would be Bennettsbridge with their haul of fortyseven All Ireland medals.
During their heyday in the 1950’s and 1960’s Bennettsbridge gained an enviable reputation, featuring in many intercounty hurling tournaments and proving to be the major attraction. e club produced marvellous teams, and one such team was known as ‘ e Ring Dazzlers.’ It included Dave DeLoughry, Frank Brady, Dick ‘Stokes’ Power, Jim ‘Sam’ Carroll, Paddy ‘Galar’ Kelly, Seamus Cleere, Martin Treacy, Mick McCarthy and Larry Cleere. e team coach was James Hayes.
Other prominent Bridge players who won All-Ireland medals with Kilkenny were: ‘ e Lovely’ Johnny Dunne, who hurled with the great Kilkenny team of the 1930’s. Later success came courtesy of Paddy Moran, Dick Carroll, Sam Carroll, Martin Treacy, Jim Bennett, Liam Cleere, John Kinsella, Timmy Kelly, Tony Kelly, Pat Lalor and recognised by many as the greatest goalkeeper of all time the legendary Noel Skehan, the rst man to win nine senior all Ireland titles. In more recent years we can add James McGarry and Liam Simpson to the list. Some haul!
INCREDIBLE STATISTICS IN BUTTS COMMUNITY
However, you would have to travel a long way to top the medal haul accumulated by the Butts Community in
