Tourism Ireland to run global campaign to encourage overseas visitors
Tourism Ireland is set to launch a new global advertising campaign as part of a €45m spending package to encourage visitors here in 2019.
The expenditure is an increase of €10m and will allow the organisation to run marketing programmes next year with the aim of growing overseas tourism revenue to €6.5bn and visitor numbers to 11.67 million.
The campaign, called ‘Fill your Heart with Ireland’, will launch next month in the United States, Britain, France and Germany.
It will run across TV, cinema, print, outdoor and online ads, as well as in content for social platforms from January 2019 in 20 markets.
Tourism Ireland intends to place a greater focus on driving growth to less visited attractions and locations, as well as on increasing business in the off-peak and shoulder seasons.
Speaking today, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross, said: “I have been hugely impressed by the hard work and dedication of the Tourism Ireland team at home and overseas and I would like to congratulate them for what looks to be another record year for overseas tourism to Ireland.
While there are challenges for Irish tourism as a consequence of Brexit, I am confident that the tourism industry can adapt quickly to enable continued growth from international markets.
"With a new global marketing campaign, the first for some years, launched across the world, we look forward to building on our recent success by continuing to grow in a manner that is sustainable," he said.
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said 2018 is set to be another record year for visitors.
“We are heading into 2019 in a position of some strength, based on the success of 2018,” he said.
“Our aim is to spread this success throughout the year and around the entire island of Ireland – ensuring we maintain our renowned welcome and superb visitor experience.
“Our new campaign, ‘Fill Your Heart with Ireland’, presents Tourism Ireland with a great opportunity to drive continued growth to the regions next year and to encourage visitors to travel off-peak.
"It will feature locations that have been less visited by overseas visitors and will also highlight outdoor activities like cycling, walking and kayaking. We are confident that our new campaign will set the island of Ireland apart from our competitor destinations and help deliver another record year for overseas tourism in 2019," he said.
