Tourism Ireland has teamed up with Phil Spencer (picuted), co-presenter of the hit Channel 4 TV series Location, Location, Location, and Classic FM, one of Britain’s largest radio stations, to showcase Ireland as the ideal ‘location’ to British holidaymakers this autumn.
Four online films have been produced– featuring Dublin, Northern Ireland, the Wild Atlantic Way and other locations around the island. The films will be promoted on the Classic FM website over a four-week period, until mid-October. The campaign is expected to reach about 6.5 million people across Britain. The films feature well-known sites like the Ha’Penny Bridge and Trinity College’s Long Room in Dublin, the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher in Co Clare, Galway’s Spanish Arch, and the Boyne Valley and Newgrange in Co Meath. The Northern Ireland film also includes a number of iconic locations, including Titanic Belfast and the Giant’s Causeway. As well as the online videos, Spencer will also promote autumn breaks to Ireland over the coming weeks, through on-air mentions on Classic FM about the many things to see and do here; and he will tweet about Ireland to his 133,000 followers, from his Twitter handle @PipofftheTV. Vanessa Markey, Tourism Ireland’s head of Britain, said: “This targeted promotion has been specifically designed to highlight autumn breaks in Ireland and to appeal to our ‘Culturally Curious’ audience in Great Britain. These are independent, active sightseers, who are typically looking to visit new places and expand their experience by exploring landscapes, history and culture. Our promotion with Phil Spencer and Classic FM fits very well with this important demographic and is just one element of the more extensive autumn campaign that we will be rolling out very soon – all aimed at boosting late-season travel to Ireland from Great Britain and our other markets around the world. “Britain is the largest market for tourism to the island of Ireland and we are really pleased to see visitor numbers from GB increasing by 11.3 per cent for January to July this year, an extra 178,200 British visitors compared with the same seven-month period in 2013. We are determined to ensure that tourism growth continues.”
