Tourism Ireland has welcomed the announcement by Aer Lingus of a new transatlantic service from Seattle to Dublin for 2018. This flight will commence on 18 May 2018 and will help boost tourism from the all-important US market, offering more choice to prospective American visitors living in Washington.
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said the "announcement is more good news for tourism to the island of Ireland as we prepare for 2018. We already work very closely with Aer Lingus and we look forward to co-operating with them to maximise the promotion of this new service from Seattle. As an island, the importance of convenient, direct, non-stop flights cannot be overstated – they are absolutely critical to achieving growth in inbound tourism.
“2017 looks set to be another record year for Irish tourism from North America, with the latest CSO figures showing more than 1.6 million arrivals from the United States and Canada during the January to September period this year – an increase of +18.6% when compared to the same nine-month period in 2016. Today’s announcement is really positive and augurs well for prospects for tourism from North America to Ireland in 2018 and beyond.”
