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Ireland Tourism pulls heart strings of travelers for Gathering initiative
DestinationsThe tall ships looked majestic as they sailed into the bay — replicas of the masted, rigged vessels that once transported millions of emigrants from these shores. The ships had departed from Liverpool, England, three days earlier, carrying descendants of Irish emigrants in a reverse voyage billed as an opportunity to “Sail Home to Your [...]
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What a hotel needs to do to get ready to host the G8 conference
DestinationsFerghal Purcell is remembering the time he hosted Nelson Mandela during critical talks leading to the first free democratic elections in South Africa in 1991. “I was general manager of the Lord Charles hotel in Somerset West on the Cape when Mandela and the entire ANC leadership came to stay. They were there to hold [...]
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Irish tourism jumps in response to yearlong “Gathering” ad campaign
DestinationsVisits to Ireland by North Americans rose by 17 percent in the first quarter of the year, data show, a sign that a government-led campaign to lure visitors with Irish roots is reinvigorating tourism in the country as it emerges from financial crisis. A pickup in the job-rich tourist trade would help cut a 14 [...]
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How fish merchant became the curator of Ireland’s independence struggle
DestinationsIn this removed County Mayo town, Ballina, at the mouth of the River Moy, the widow of a local fish merchant decided one day to share her husband’s collection of Irish miscellany with the public. Better to have it on display here in his beloved Ballina, as he had always wished, than to lose it, [...]
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With St Patrick’s Day Ireland aims big with diaspora tourism
DestinationsIn case you didn’t know, 2013 is the year of The Gathering, when Tourism Ireland hopes that throughout the year at least one million Americans and another 6.6 million people from the UK, Europe and elsewhere will arrive at airports and ferry ports to take part in a celebration of all things Irish. And the [...]
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Tourism Ireland’s web ambitions drive the €3 million launch of Ireland.com
DestinationsTourism Ireland has spent €3m on a new website that’s been made in England — including €500,000 for the domain name Ireland.com. The tourist organisation defended the decision to award the lucrative contract to an English web design company, saying it was chosen after an EU-wide tender process. This led to London company Hugo & [...]
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SkiftAds of the Week: Ireland, Switzerland, Le Meridien, Canada, and Aeroflot
DestinationsThe next few weeks are a traditionally slow period for travel with companies and tourists getting back to work after the holidays. We expect a lull in destination advertising as the debut of spring-themed travel ads is just weeks away. The exception to that is Ireland, which just launched a yearlong marketing initiative and aired [...]
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Bollywood blockbuster transforms Ireland into a hot destination for Middle Eastern tourists
DestinationsWith help from Bollywood stars like Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, Ireland is back on the tourist map, experiencing an unexpected boost to its tourism. Shot partly in Dublin last year, the romantic thriller Ek Tha Tiger is one of the biggest Bollywood blockbusters of 2012. “We have seen anecdotal evidence that Ireland, while still a [...]
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How do you market Ireland to Americans?
DestinationsA fascinating document for travel marketers: how will Ireland, a country hit hard due to Euro crisis, market itself going ahead to its biggest tourism market, the United States. The U.S. is the island’s second largest tourism generating market delivering almost a million visitors who stay longer and spend more than average tourists. Tourism Ireland [...]
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Ireland tourism slowly climbing back to pre-recession 2007 levels
DestinationsThe latest Fáilte Ireland Tourism Barometer has shown business sentiment returning to levels last seen in 2007 though some sectors are outperforming others. The hotel sector seemed to be doing better while other accommodation providers and the restaurant sector remain significantly challenged. Other findings: – Business confidence has now almost returned to heights last seen in [...]
