German Press Visit Knock With Tourism Ireland

Tourism Ireland brought a group of leading travel and lifestyle journalists from Germany on a fact-finding trip to Ireland in late September. Representing various publications – including German newspapers Die Welt, Bild and Connoisseur, a German magazine which is also distributed in Austria and the Czech Republic – with a combined readership of more than 9.6 million people, the journalists were here to experience at first-hand some of the many things to see and do in Ireland for stories they are planning to write about holidays here. One of the highlights of the journalists’ visit was dinner and an overnight stay at Ashford Castle near Cong. During their time here, the journalists also visited Connemara, including Kylemore Abbey and Gardens, Clifden and the Connemara National Park. En route to Dublin, where they stayed at the Merrion Hotel, they stopped in Co Westmeath to visit the Celtic Roots Studio in Ballinahown and for lunch at the Ballinahown Tea Rooms. Zoë Redmond, Tourism Ireland’s manager for Central Europe, said: “Fact-finding visits like this are very important; they are a really effective way for us to get positive exposure in Germany about the superb tourism product and the wonderful hospitality right around the island of Ireland.”