Tourism Ireland and Tourism Minister Shane Ross TD have launched a €12 million multi-media autumn campaign to boost late-season travel to Ireland from around the world.
The September to December period usually yields as much as 30 per cent of the country’s annual overseas tourism business. In keeping with this, a key objective for Tourism Ireland is to attract more tourists from abroad to our regions throughout the off-peak and shoulder season months.
Tourism Ireland say Brexit remains an ongoing challenge for Irish tourism, giving rise to consumer concern, particularly in Britain and some Mainland European countries. The fall in the value of sterling has made holidays here more expensive for British visitors. It’s also made Britain more affordable for visitors from many of Ireland’s top markets.
Therefore, attractive offers for good value fares and packages are a major focus for Tourism Ireland’s autumn campaign in Britain and in other markets. An extensive programme of co-operative promotions with air and sea carriers, online travel agents, as well as traditional tour operators and travel agents, is either under way or in the pipeline.
Tourism Ireland’s autumn campaign will also be working to attract more visitors to rural areas and less visited attractions and locations between now and the end of 2019. It will highlight the many reasons to holiday in the Emerald Isle – such as the festivals and events taking place over the coming months. These include the new Púca Festival, the Galway International Oyster Festival, Belfast International Arts Festival, Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival, Savour Kilkenny, Cork Jazz Festival, Wexford Festival Opera and the New Year Festival (NYF) Dublin.
Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross TD, said in a statement: “I’m delighted to support the launch of Tourism Ireland’s autumn campaign and I welcome its focus on achieving growth through a greater regional and seasonal spread of visitors. Developing the industry in this manner will help to ensure that it continues to grow in a manner that is sustainable, from an environmental, economic and social perspective.”
Continuing the Minister said: “I am pleased to see that the recently launched ‘Taste the Island’ initiative features strongly in this campaign, which, in addition to the variety of festivals and events being hosted throughout Ireland, will attract more visitors from our main target markets. This campaign will also see our participation in the Rugby World Cup being leveraged to promote Ireland in Japan.”
“It is essential that we continue to promote and expand our tourism offering around the world in the face of challenges such as Brexit and other international economic uncertainties. I believe that this autumn campaign will be successful in promoting late-season travel to Ireland and that it will underpin continued growth in tourism for the remainder of the year.”
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, also said: “Our autumn campaign aims to take advantage of late booking trends around the world, as there is still plenty of business to play for. Many people are opting for shorter holiday breaks and autumn is a really good opportunity, with many world-class festivals and events happening right around the island. One of our key objectives is to drive more business to our regions, right throughout the off-peak and shoulder season months.”
“Brexit and the drop in the value of sterling, remains an ongoing challenge, giving rise to consumer concern particularly in Britain and some Mainland European markets. We will continue to monitor the situation closely with our industry colleagues.”
Gibbons also stated that Tourism Ireland’s publicity drive continues this autumn – targeting print, broadcast and online media around the world with positive stories about Ireland. In addition, the marketing body will promote Ireland through sales missions to the United States, Canada and the UAE and will bring top overseas travel agents and tour operators to the Emerald Isle. The latter are to meet with hundreds of tourism businesses here and negotiate inclusion in their 2020 brochures and programmes.
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