Ireland’s tourism drive for 2019 kicks off today at the world’s largest travel fair.
Some 70 tourism businesses from Ireland travel to London to join Tourism Ireland at this year’s World Travel Market.
Over the next three days, the Irish companies will engage in thousands of meetings with British and international tour operators to negotiate and exchange vital contracts for 2019.
Organisers estimate that €3.5bn worth of business was done at last year’s market. Ireland’s strong presence at World Travel Market is particularly important this year, in the context of Brexit and its implications for Irish tourism, in 2019 and beyond.
Since the UK referendum on Brexit, Tourism Ireland has been closely monitoring developments in the British outbound travel market. As our nearest neighbour and largest market for overseas tourism, Britain will remain a priority,” said the CEO of Tourism Ireland Niall Gibbons.
With around 182 countries and regions all vying for business at the market, Tourism Ireland aims to stand out from the crowd and capture the attention of the global media and travel professionals in attendance. Tourism Ireland, working with Fáilte Ireland and industry partners, will highlight Ireland’s unique offerings, including our regional experiences, Ireland’s Ancient East and the Wild Atlantic Way, as well as Dublin — Surprising by Nature.
“In 2019, we will continue to work with our industry partners to highlight the ease of getting to the island of Ireland, with almost 238,000 seats by air and 46,000 car spaces on ferries from Britain every week, as well as the wide variety of things to see and do on holiday here,” said Mr Gibbons.
“Competitiveness and the value for money message will remain important. We are committed to making 2019 another strong year for Irish tourism.”
Latest figures from the CSO indicate that this will be another record year for Irish tourism, with more than 8.2 million people arriving here between January and September, up 542,000 compared to the same period last year.