The closure of Joe Walsh Tours is a major blow for Irish-organised pilgrimages to Lourdes and other Catholic shrines on the continent, says a priest who has brought thousands to Lourdes annually for three decades.
The departure last week of JWT Pilgrimtours was a blow, he said. Anyone could get a cheap flight to Biarritz, Toulouse or Bordeaux if they wanted to visit the holy grotto at Lourdes, said Fr Martin Noone. But JWT had decades of experience with the people on the ground in Lourdes; the hotel and transport providers; local guides; and the Accueil Notre Dame, which has many of the facilities of a modern hospital and is a place of welcome for sick people, close to the grotto.