Over 10,000 direct meetings between Irish tourism businesses with top overseas travel buyers
Tourism, buoyant in 2014, is already setting its sights on growth for next year as members of the Irish tourism industry from across the country prepare for a targeted 2015 sales drive this week. Today, Fáilte Ireland hosts the first in a series of custom-made workshops to enable Irish tourism operators to pitch directly to the cream of the global travel industry. Over the next five weeks Irish tourism businesses will engage in over 10,000 one-to-one meetings with approximately 140 of the world’s key tour operators.
Each one of these “Destination Ireland” events, organised by Fáilte Ireland in conjunction with their colleagues in Tourism Ireland, will focus on a particular market. The first event on Wednesday (in the Clontarf Castle Hotel) will welcome a select group of key travel agents to attend the ‘Canadian Expo Workshop’. The Canadian Expo
Workshop will be followed by:
• British Coach and Group Tour Operators Workshop (September 22nd);
• New and Emerging Markets Workshop (October 16th)
• American Expo (October 21st)
Speaking today, Martina Bromley Head of Sales with Fáilte Ireland stressed the importance of hosting events like these and the benefits for the Irish trade involved –
“This has been a great year for Irish tourism so far with the recent CSO figures showing strong growth in both revenue and visitor numbers for the first six months of the year. However, we can’t rest on our laurels and it’s important to build on this year’s momentum.
“We are delighted to welcome these important overseas travel operators to our shores as they plan their 2015 packages. These overseas agents have the capacity to deliver significant amounts of visitors to Ireland and their presence here is testimony to our enduring strong appeal as a destination and the variety and attractiveness of the Irish holiday. Hopefully the deals made over the next few weeks will assist ongoing growth in Irish tourism in 2015.”
To further showcase what Ireland can truly offer, Fáilte Ireland has also put together a number of specially crafted tailor-made tours for the travel agents to get out and about, to learn first-hand more about the country, and really get an authentic taste of what an Irish holiday can offer. These trips provide a great opportunity for overseas operators to experience first-hand the full-on Ireland experience and can play a key role in closing the deal and persuading these agents to choose Ireland as a holiday destination for their customers.
Over the next few weeks the international buyers will be sampling all that Ireland has to offer including Dublin highlights such as the Fab Food and Le Cool Walking Trails as well as Experience Gaelic Games. Regional highlights include a tasting session at Skelligs Chocolate Company, taking in the views at the Cliffs of Moher, a visit to Foyne Flying Boat Museum as well as testing their sea legs with Seafari Cruises Kenmare.
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ENDS
For further information please contact:
Alex Connolly – Head of Communications
086 7966320/01 8847884
Louise Tolerton - Press Officer
086 6086578/01 8847135
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