The office of Limerick City of Culture, was the venue for the February board meeting of Tourism Ireland last week, where the Wild Atlantic Way, Limerick City of Culture and new trans-Atlantic routes from Shannon were major talking points.
The board members took the opportunity to meet with various local tourism operators prior to the meeting, to discuss the 2014 season and the extensive promotional programme which Tourism Ireland has planned to highlight Limerick and the Mid West, and in particular the exciting programme of events for Limerick City of Culture, around the world this year.
Speaking after the board meeting, Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: “We were delighted to be in Limerick for this month’s board meeting and to have the chance to meet with representatives of the tourism industry from Limerick and the Mid West and to hear directly how business is shaping up for this year.
“It also afforded us the opportunity to discuss the extensive promotional programme which Tourism Ireland will undertake across the globe this year. Throughout 2014, we will place a major focus on highlighting the Wild Atlantic Way. We believe this exciting new tourism experience – showcasing the spectacular scenery and unique culture of the west coast – will have tremendous appeal in our markets around the world. We will promote key events, particularly Limerick City of Culture, which affords us a major opportunity to highlight Limerick as a cultural and historic destination overseas. We will also capitalise on important access developments – maximising the promotion of the new, as well as existing, flights from Britain, the US and Mainland Europe to Shannon Airport – to continue to grow overseas tourism to this part of Ireland.” In North America, Tourism Ireland will promote Limerick City of Culture this year through a programme of co-operative advertising campaigns, in conjunction with Aer Lingus, United, Delta, US Airways and Air Transat. In Britain, print and online advertising campaigns will run in cities which have direct flights to Shannon. Activity will also include lots of social media promotions by Tourism Ireland with its Facebook fans (over two million worldwide) and its Twitter followers (109,000+).
Limerick City of Culture will feature prominently on Tourism Ireland’s international website, Ireland.com; and a number of influential international journalists will be invited to come and visit Limerick during 2014.
