Eight travel agents from China, India, Qatar and the UAE are visiting Ireland this week as guests of Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland and Tourism NI.
Their visit is the ‘grand finale’ of Tourism Ireland’s ‘Ireland Specialists’ online training programme, which is designed to help travel agents and tour operators in developing tourism markets to sell holidays to Ireland. The travel agents all studied six different modules on Ireland, completing each module with a quiz. Travel agents who got full marks for each module received a special gold ‘Ireland Specialists’ certificate and the chance to travel to Ireland.
Their trip's itinerary includes the Irish National Stud and Japanese Gardens, Kildare Village, the Cliffs of Moher, Ashford Castle, Trinity College and the Guinness Storehouse, as well as a sightseeing tour of Galway city. The group will also visit Titanic Belfast, the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, the Giant’s Causeway, Dunluce Castle and embark on a walking tour of Derry’s historic walls.
Tourism Ireland’s head of Asia, Middle East and UK Inbound, David Boyce explained, “As a reward for excelling in their ‘Ireland Specialists’ training, we invited this group of travel agents to come and experience some of the many things to see and do on the island of Ireland. Familiarisation trips such as this are extremely important, as influential travel agents get to experience first-hand our superb tourism offering. Our aim is to enthuse the travel agents about the destination so that when they return home they will be even better informed to advise their clients when planning and booking their holidays.”
© 2018 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
