Tourism Ireland has unveiled a new television advertising campaign in Spain timed to take advantage of late booking trends for summer holidays by Spanish travellers and to coincide with the World Cup and the huge numbers of people watching television right now.
The ads highlight the Wild Atlantic Way and Northern Ireland as the “home of Game of Thrones” and are running around prime time matches and programmes on national TV stations Telecinco and Cuatro. They are part of a wider campaign with Rumbo, a Spanish online travel agent, which also includes extensive advertising on Rumbo.es and other key Spanish websites, as well as a programme of social media activity. Spain is an important market for tourism to the island of Ireland, with around 265,000 Spanish people visiting Ireland in 2013. Barbara Wood, Tourism Ireland’s manager in Spain, said, “2013 was a record year for Spanish visitors to Ireland and we are undertaking an extensive programme of promotions throughout 2014, to keep the momentum going and build on that growth.” Recent figures from the Central Statistics Office for March-May this year show growth of 15 per cent in Spanish visitors to Ireland over the same three-month period last year.
Tourism Ireland’s programme of promotions in Spain includes online advertising on key websites, running until July, which will reach an estimated 16.5 million people. The organisation is co-operating with airlines Aer Lingus, Ryanair and Iberia Express, to highlight great airfares to the island of Ireland.
