Together with a delegation of 18 Irish and US tourism companies, Tourism Ireland is undertaking a sales blitz to the US this week, meeting, and doing business with, hundreds of travel professionals in Boca Raton, Washington DC and Atlanta.
The schedule includes a B2B event in each city, with an interactive presentation showcasing the island of Ireland, giving the participating Irish companies a platform to promote and sell their products and services to the key American decision-makers in attendance. It includes opportunities for networking with travel and lifestyle journalists and influencers. Tourism Ireland also introduced its new campaign, "Fill Your Heart With Ireland", to the travel professionals in each city.
Aiming To Growing Revenue From North American Visitors
Tourism Ireland has prioritised North America, as a market which offers a strong return on investment in terms of holiday visitors and expenditure. In 2019, Tourism Ireland aims to surpass the record-breaking performance of 2018 and to grow revenue from North American visitors by 8% i.e. €1.99 billion generated by 2.17 million visitors (+6%).
Tourism Ireland’s Head of North America, Alison Metcalfe, commented, "Our 'Fill your heart with Ireland' sales mission this week provides an excellent platform to highlight the many things to see and do and all that is new and exciting for a vacation on the island of Ireland.
"In 2018, we welcomed a record 2 million North American visitors to the island of Ireland. Looking to the year ahead, we are confident that our strategy – combined with more airline seats than ever before from the US, a strong dollar, as well as the strength and competitiveness of the vacation experience right around the island of Ireland – will deliver further growth. We look forward to continuing to work with our travel partners, to ensure that our US visitors enjoy a unique and memorable vacation and receive the very best of Irish welcomes."
© 2019 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
