Arriving on Inaugural Flight from Beijing Chinese Media Now Exploring Ireland

Arriving on Inaugural Flight from Beijing Chinese Media Now Exploring Ireland
The Chinese media are pictured with Jane Stokes, Fáilte Ireland enjoying their visit to Causey Farm.


Tourism Agencies Showcase Dublin and Surrounding Region to Chinese Media


With direct flights by Hainan Airlines and Cathay Pacific set to benefit Dublin and Ireland, it is expected that there will be a significant boost to tourism and trade ties between Ireland and the world’s second-biggest economy.  With this in mind, Fáilte Ireland, in conjunction with Tourism Ireland, are currently showcasing attractions and places to stay in Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow, Meath and Louth to a group of Chinese media who arrived on the Hainan Airways inaugural flight from Beijing this week.

For most of the Chinese group, which include bloggers, travel writers and photographers, it is their first experience of visiting Ireland. The media delegation includes online media outlet Sina.com - the most influential Chinese web portal with 411 million monthly visitors.

The media visit includes experiencing some of Dublin’s iconic tourism attractions such as the Guinness Storehouse, Trinity College (to see The Book of Kells) and a walking tour of Dublin.  Outside Dublin, the journalists will experience a visit to Kildare Village, Powerscourt House and Gardens, Glendalough Visitor Centre, Avoca Village, Slane Castle the Distillery Martry Mill and Causey Farm.

Alex Connolly, Head of Corporate Communications & International Publicity with Fáilte Ireland welcomed the group to Ireland, said:

“There is major potential for Ireland to benefit from this lucrative and rapidly growing market.  It is our hope that this press trip will provide these highly influential Chinese journalists with the opportunity to share with their viewers and readers the compelling experiences that are on offer in Ireland.” 

Last week a joint Fáilte Ireland/Tourism Ireland dedicated event was held for up to 150 tourism businesses in Croke Park providing them with the key to successfully win business from new emerging tourism markets.  With a particular emphasis on China, India and the Gulf States, the one-day event, ‘Winning Business from Emerging Markets’  examined how best to win sales from emerging overseas markets and included insights and tips for doing business with trade in these target countries.


International Publicity
Last year was a bumper year for international media coming to Ireland from 20 overseas markets.  Over 1,400 representatives from print, broadcast and online channels across the world descended on our shores during the year providing Irish tourism with an overall reach to over 9.2 billion worldwide. The equivalent advertising value of this reach is estimated at over €104 million.  Fáilte Ireland, together with Tourism Ireland, co-ordinated over 400 different itineraries resulting in the media representatives meeting with over 4,000 Irish businesses across the country. 

Hainan Airlines (HU) is the largest civilian-run air transport company, the fourth-largest airline in terms of fleet size in the China, and fourth-largest airline in Asia in terms of passengers carried. The airline headquartered in Haikou, Hainan. It operates scheduled domestic and international services on 500 routes from Hainan and nine locations on the mainland, as well as charter services. Its main base is Haikou Meilan International Airport, with a hub at Beijing Capital International Airport and several focus cities.
Hainan Airlines begins the first direct flights between Beijing and Dublin on 2 June in a move set to give a significant boost to trade and tourism ties between Ireland and the world’s second-biggest economy.

Details of the flight as below:

Flight Aircraft Dates   From Take off Landing To
HU749 330 Tue/Sat Beijing 01:30 06:00 Edinburgh
HU749 330 Tue/Sat Edinburgh 08:00 09:10 Dublin
HU750 330 Tue/Sat Dublin 11:10 05:00+1 Beijing
HU751 330 Thu/Sun Beijing 01:30 06:00 Dublin
HU751 330 Thu/Sun Dublin 08:00 09:10 Edinburgh
HU752 330 Thu/Sun Edinburgh 11:10 05:00+1 Beijing

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