AT the recently concluded Volvo Ocean race in Abu Dhabi, Tourism Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland held a ‘Ireland Day’ to showcase Galway and the island of Ireland as a fantastic holiday destination and is part of Tourism Ireland’s publicity drive around the world during the nine-month race to reach a huge audience of potential holidaymakers. Through a day-long programme of Ireland-themed activities and entertainment were on presented to bring to like the many experiences of Ireland.
Speaking to Shalu Chandran on the sidelines of the event, Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “The Volvo Ocean Race attracts huge publicity around the world and with Galway due to host the grand finale, there’s an ideal opportunity to showcase Galway and the west, and the many attractions that the island of Ireland has to offer as a holiday destination.”
Tourism into Ireland has remained strong in 2011 with 7.4 million tourist arrivals. “All our traditional markets have remained committed to Ireland. These markets include Great Britain, Germany, United States and Germany and account for 75 per cent of our tourist receipts.”
“We are now keen to build on the increase in visitor arrival numbers achieved last year, and to regain our market share over our competition.
For this the tourism board has launched its new global initiative ‘Jump into Ireland’, which will aggressively promote the destination across 22 countries, for the next three years. Largely promoted through TV, radio and social media, the €50 million ($64.7 million) programme is expected to have a global reach of over 200 billion people.
Gibbons added that the tourism board is committed to reach its target to welcome over nine million overseas visitors annually by 2015.
The Middle East too has remained a key market for Ireland. The last two years have seen a strong increase of 30 per cent in tourist arrivals from the region and Gibbons hopes to see another 20 per cent increase for 2012.
“Four years ago we had no direct air connections into Ireland from the region. Today Etihad has 10 flights a week, and Emirates has just launched their daily Dublin service. We also have plans to establish a new visa centre in Jebel Ali in the near future, which will strengthen our commitment to the region.”
 |
|
Gibbons... focus on the Middle East |
“The new service will further boost our connectivity to new and emerging markets like Australia, New Zealand, India, China and South Africa, given the airlines’ strong global network,” added Gibbons.
The Jump into Ireland campaign was launched in the Middle East at the launch of the new Emirates’ daily flight.
“We also work with 250 agents from the UAE, who are registered members of the Shamrock Club New Agent Specialist Educational Programme. The programme provides great insight and service to agents when planning the perfect itinerary for their guests,” he added.
Tourism Ireland will also launch its sales mission programme to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait later this month, to reach out to more agents.
As London gears up for the Olympics later this year, Gibbons believes that it will be busy times for Ireland too. Tourism Ireland already announced the visa-waiver programme for tourists and business people from 16 states if they already have a valid British visa. The visa waiver programme includes nationals of Belarus, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, India, Kazakhstan, China and Uzebekistan.
“We are also working with corporate sponsors like BMW to add Ireland to their itineraries when visiting London for the Games. Additionally, we expect to see more arrivals from across Great Britain, looking to take a break. Currently the UK accounts for 50 per cent of our tourist arrivals.”