Eirbus - Cork and the agents
It's not the travel agents sending everyone to Dublin.
If you go onto the website and you see a saving of €65.00 Euro......and there are 2 of you etc etc. Alot of people will swing that way.
There is an opportunity to do as you've just done with agents. Educate them on the cost of getting to Dublin, the pain of getting there. I'm amazed at how much pain people will take for €20.00. Ryanair proves how much pain people will take to save money.
All the agents are doing is highlighting the fare difference which is part of their job. In your instance, if it was Heathrow - chances are you were flying with BA or Virgin to Vegas. The price should have been exactly the same..........as the onward booking class would have been the same if you came from Dublin or Cork. So, that means the connection was a higher fare and possibly pushed the transatlantic fare higher also. Alternatively Dublin had more connections via Atlanta, Philadelphia, JFK, Newark, Chicago, Charlotte, Boston, or wherever.
90% of people coming through the door will want the best fare/simplest route combination. Cork also picks up it's fair share from Tipp/Kilkenny/Waterford based on the lack of hassle factor. So there is a two way street.
Regards
Shamrogue