Tourism Ireland and 14 other Irish tourism companies, including the likes of the Guinness Storehouse, plan to lead a sales mission to China with the hope of growing visitor numbers.
They will target top Chinese travel agents and tour operators in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong from the 15 to 20 May.
Tourism Ireland said the sales team hopes that by working with Chinese travel professionals and strengthening their business links through a programme of workshops, presentations and networking events, that China will be encouraged to extend their current travel offerings to Ireland.
With China becoming an emerging and increasingly important travel market, the CEO of Tourism Ireland Niall Gibbbons wants to win a greater share of tourists from there. Currently four million Chinese people travel to Europe each year, with Ireland only welcoming 45,000 visitors in 2015.
The latest data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization shows that China is the world's largest outbound travel market with 120 million people spending around $165 billion traveling overseas. Gibbons hopes that by highlighting Ireland's natural attractions, cities, castles and proximity to Britain, that it will increase the number of Chinese visitors to Ireland each year.
