Tourism Minister Brendan Griffin was in New York last week to meet with several influential media outlets and attend a Tourism Ireland roundtable meeting, where he met key travel industry and media contacts from the tri-state area.
Griffin was briefed on Tourism Ireland’s extensive programme of promotional activity which is under way in North America this autumn to highlight vacations in Ireland in the shoulder and off-season months, and to position Ireland well for 2019.
Second Largest Source Market
The United States is Ireland’s second largest source market for tourism. Ireland now welcomes approximately 10% of all US visitors to Europe.
Alison Metcalfe, Tourism Ireland’s head of North America, said, “2017 was another record year for tourism from the United States to Ireland, when we welcomed around 1.7 million American visitors. And, the growth momentum continues in 2018, with the latest CSO figures indicating an increase of 13.5% in visitors for the January to July period. We are confident that our strategy for growth and extensive marketing programme combined with more airline seats than ever before and the superb vacation experience on offer in Ireland will deliver further record growth this year and into 2019.”
© 2018 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
