Eight Irish tourism companies have joined Tourism Ireland this week at Global Travel Marketplace (GTM) in Las Vegas.
The busy, three-day event involves a programme of bespoke, one-to-one appointments and networking sessions, providing an excellent opportunity for the Irish tourism enterprises to meet, and do business with, influential travel professionals from North America, ensuring the island of Ireland is ‘top of mind’ for them when recommending destinations to their clients.
“Our presence at this year’s Global Travel Marketplace in Las Vegas provides another excellent platform to spread the word about the many great things to see and do right around Ireland,” said Alison Metcalfe, Tourism Ireland’s Head of North America.
“Last year, we welcomed a record 1.83 million North American visitors to the island of Ireland. Tourism Ireland has prioritised North America for 2018, as a market which offers a strong return on investment, in terms of holiday visitors and expenditure. Our aim is to deliver a 5% increase in visitor numbers and 7% increase in revenue from North America this year. A number of factors are working in our favour, including more airline seats than ever before from the US, as well as the strength and competitiveness of the vacation experience right around the island of Ireland.''
Earlier this year, Tourism Ireland launched a new strategy to continue to grow tourism from the United States, setting out ambitious targets which will see the island of Ireland welcome 2 million American visitors per year by 2021, representing growth of 23%; and which will see revenue generated by American holidaymakers increase by 33%, to €1.37 billion per year.
© 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.
