Hospitality Ireland presents a round-up of Tourism Ireland news.
Northern Ireland Features In Danish Newspaper
In a statement published on its website, "Tourism Ireland said, Some 213,000 readers of Berlingske, a national daily newspaper in Denmark, have been reading all about Northern Ireland. An article about Belfast and the Causeway Coastal Route appeared in the travel supplement of a recent edition of the newspaper and included a stunning cover image of the North Antrim coast.
"Tourism Ireland in Copenhagen, in conjunction with Tourism NI, invited journalist Jesper Tornvig Ludvigsen to visit Northern Ireland last month. The resulting six-page spread appeared under the headline 'Belfast og Nordkysten: Grøn og Gribende' (meaning 'Belfast and the North Coast: Green and Gripping'). It featured beautiful photography and articles on Belfast, Titanic Belfast, Dunluce Castle, the Giant’s Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, as well as the wonderful food and entertainment on offer here.
"Emer Mac Diarmada, Tourism Ireland's Manager for the Nordic Region, said, 'We are delighted with the excellent coverage and exposure for Northern Ireland in the Danish newspaper Berlingske. The article was read by around 213,000 Danes - so it's a really great way of highlighting Belfast and the Causeway Coast front to Danish travellers. Publicity is an important element of Tourism Ireland’s overall promotional programme, helping to raise awareness through the media about the many things to see and do on holiday in Northern Ireland.'
"In September, Tourism Ireland kicked off its new ‘Green Button’ campaign in the Nordic region. It's a £275,000, multi-media promotional campaign, which will run through November 2021. The campaign aims to generate awareness of the island of Ireland among Nordic travellers and drive bookings for short breaks and holidays here.
"Emer Mac Diarmada continued, 'We are rolling out our new 'Green Button' campaign in the Nordic countries right now, to re-start tourism and encourage Nordic travellers to 'press the Green Button' and book the island of Ireland for their next holiday. Our key message is that we cannot wait to welcome back our Nordic visitors.'"
Tourism Ireland Announces New Manager Germany
Tourism Ireland has announced the appointment of Nadine Lehmann as its new Market Manager Germany. Nadine will take up the post immediately, based in Tourism Ireland's office in Frankfurt. She will be responsible for the development and implementation of Tourism Ireland's strategy and marketing plans in Germany.
Nadine has considerable experience at senior level in the travel sector in Germany, having worked for Der Touristik - a major German tour operator and the largest tour operator from Mainland Europe to the island of Ireland - for 21 years. In her most recent role, as Director of Marketing and Sales Promotion, she was responsible for developing integrated marketing campaigns with airlines, hotels and tourism boards around the world. Nadine has led multiple teams and managed staff members who trained thousands of travel agents. She was also responsible for the prestigious annual Der Touristik Travel Academy.
Commenting on the appointment, Niall Gibbons, Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland, said, "I am delighted to welcome Nadine to Tourism Ireland and this key strategic role, following an extensive external competition. Nadine brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience, particularly with the German travel trade, and has a very strong track record of achievement. She takes up this important role of Market Manager in Germany at a challenging time, as we restart overseas tourism to the island of Ireland."
Tourism Ireland And Partners Attend Travel News Market In Sweden
Tourism Ireland, together with partners from Ireland, attended Travel News Market in Stockholm last week to promote Ireland to key Swedish tour operators and travel agents.
The one-day B2B event was a valuable opportunity to meet, and do business with, influential Swedish travel professionals. The Irish companies engaged in a series of one-to-one, pre-scheduled appointments, to negotiate and exchange vital contracts for 2022.
Emer Mac Diarmada, Tourism Ireland's Manager for the Nordic Region, said, "Tourism Ireland was delighted to attend Travel News Market in Stockholm in person this week. It was a really good opportunity to highlight the many great things to see and do around the island of Ireland to key Swedish travel professionals. Travel News Market also provided a valuable opportunity for our partners from Ireland to showcase and sell their product."
In September, Tourism Ireland kicked off its new "Green Button" campaign in the Nordic region. It's a €320,000, multi-media promotional campaign, which will run through November 2021. The campaign aims to generate awareness of the island of Ireland among Nordic travellers and drive bookings for short breaks and holidays here.
Emer Mac Diarmada continued, "We are rolling out our new 'Green Button' campaign in the Nordic countries right now, to re-start tourism and encourage Nordic travellers to 'press the Green Button; and book the island of Ireland for their next holiday. Our key message is that we cannot wait to roll out the green carpet and welcome back our Nordic visitors."
Ronan Keating Lends A Hand To Promote Dublin To British Holidaymakers
Tourism Ireland has teamed up with Ronan Keating in a new promotion to highlight Dublin to British holidaymakers.
The former Boyzone singer hosts the breakfast show on Magic Radio, a popular national radio station in Britain. Ronan and his co-host, Harriet Scott, did a live broadcast of their show today (12 November) from various locations around Dublin - including the GPO, the Ha'Penny Bridge, Temple Bar, the Molly Malone statue, St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Guinness Storehouse. Ronan is showing Harriet around his hometown - taking her to some of our top attractions and talking on air about some of the places he holds dear. He's also sharing great footage of Dublin on Instagram.
As well as the live broadcast, the promotion also includes a specially-created page on the website of Magic Radio. Ads have been running during the breakfast show this week, urging listeners to visit the page, to be in with a chance to win a trip to Dublin. The page also features Tourism Ireland's new "Green Button" ad. And a new video - created from footage filmed today - will be shared on the social channels of Magic Radio. The promotion is expected to reach over three million people across Britain.
Tourism Ireland's message is that Dublin is a great choice for an autumn or winter break, with lots of great reasons to visit over the coming months - including festivals like NYF Dublin and TradFest Temple Bar 2022.
Niall Gibbons, Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland, said, "We are delighted to work with Magic Radio and our own Ronan Keating to promote Dublin to listeners of his breakfast show around Britain. It is a really great way to shine a spotlight on Dublin as a fantastic choice for an autumn or winter short break. Our message - and that of the entire Irish tourism industry - is very simple: we cannot wait to roll out the green carpet and welcome back visitors from Great Britain."
Great Britain is an important market for tourism to the island of Ireland, which pre-COVID, delivered 42% of all overseas visitors and around 25% of all overseas tourism revenue. In 2019, we welcomed almost 4.8 million British visitors to the island of Ireland, whose visits generated around €1.45 billion in revenue.
Killarney Wins Major German travel Event For April 2022
Der Touristik, a major German tour operator and the largest tour operator from Mainland Europe to the island of Ireland, has announced it will host its prestigious annual travel academy in Killarney, in April 2022. The event is always held in leading travel destinations - most recently, prior to COVID-19, in Cuba in 2019 and in Finland in 2018. Killarney beat off challenges from a number of other top destinations to host the 2022 event.
This will be the first overseas event for DerTouristik since the outbreak of COVID-19. The travel academy was originally due to take place here in April 2020 but was postponed because of the pandemic. It is being supported by Tourism Ireland, in partnership with Fáilte Ireland and Limerick Travel.
This is Der Touristik's annual event and will take place over three nights, on April 3-6, 2022. Approximately 200 top German travel agents, as well as influential travel journalists and senior managers from DER Touristik - are expected to participate. In addition to attending the travel academy, delegates will have the opportunity to participate in specially designed pre-conference tours across the island of Ireland - to enhance their knowledge of the tourism experiences and attractions on offer here and allow them to sample our legendary hospitality and welcome. As well as generating valuable off-season business, giving the local economy a significant boost before the high season, the annual travel academy always helps boost German visitor numbers to the host destination in subsequent years.
Niall Gibbons, Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland, said, "It is a tremendous honour for Killarney to have won this prestigious event in the face of competition from other destinations. Tourism Ireland is delighted to have played its part in securing this event, which confirms Killarney and Ireland as a world-class destination. Germany is our third-largest source of visitors and in 2019 we welcomed 749,000 German visitors to the island of Ireland. This travel academy presents a superb opportunity to show these influential travel agents what's on offer here and will help increase German visitor numbers, as we restart overseas tourism in 2022 to the island of Ireland."
Paul Kelly, Chief Executive of Fáilte Ireland, said, "For Irish tourism to recover and grow in the long term, it's vital that there is a strong message that Ireland offers a safe, high-quality experience; with a diverse range of attractions and activity products and a wide selection of accommodation choices. Fáilte Ireland is delighted to support this initiative by helping to host these highly influential agents next April and showcasing the excellent tourism destinations, products and people in Ireland. This will continue to drive long term demand by ensuring that these agents can confidently encourage their customers in Germany to choose Ireland as a holiday destination.
Kevin Keogh, Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing for Der Touristik, said, "As the market leader for tourism from Germany to the island of Ireland for over 50 years, Der Touristik is delighted to bring its 200 top travel agents to Ireland for our 2020 Academy and to encourage them the discover the destination."
© 2021 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
