Tag Archives: Niall Gibbons

Thirty Irish tourism companies, including the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience, Doolin2Aran Ferries, Shannon Airport and Shannon Heritage, joined Tourism Ireland recently at the largest travel trade fair in the world, ITB in Berlin. Germany is the third-largest market for tourism to the island of Ireland and in 2017 we welcomed around 660,000 German visitors. Tourism Ireland recently launched a new strategy to boost tourism from Germany, setting out challenging and ambitious targets, which will see the island of Ireland welcome 800,000 German visitors per year by 2021, representing growth of +20%; and will see revenue generated by holiday visitors increase by +27%, to €375 million per year. ITB (Internationale Tourismus-Börse) is the biggest travel promotion of the year, attracting over 160,000 visitors from 180 countries across the world. Of these, about 109,000 are trade visitors – including leading tour operators, travel agents, airlines, travel media and bloggers – not just from Germany but from all over the world. The …

In a week dominated by aviation-related headlines, Shannon Chamber hosted a luncheon seminar where two key players in the tourism and travel sectors – Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland and Suzanne Boda, senior vice president Asia, Canada, Europe and Cargo, American Airlines – were guest speakers. The lunch, sponsored by American Airlines, was held in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Limerick and attended by representatives from the business, tourism and hospitality sectors. Chamber president Kevin Thompstone said in his introductory remarks that access and connectivity is the key to increasing visitor numbers to the West of Ireland. “With just over 5% of international traffic to Ireland, Shannon delivers 15% of the West’s, 37% of Shannon’s and 12% of the South-West’s overseas holidaymaker bed nights. This demonstrates the link between access to Shannon and tourism activity in Shannon and the surrounding regions. The West has the product and the amenities and is proactively creating awareness, through Tourism Ireland, in international …

Following on from a good year for overseas visitors to Ireland in 2014, indications are that this trend is set to continue, which augurs well for tourism in Clare. CSO data releaased this week shows that the number of overseas visits between November 2014 and January 2015 increased by 9.1% compared to the corresponding period for 2013/2014. The CSO Quarterly National Household Survey shows further positive results for the sector with the numbers employed in the accommodation and food services sector (seasonally adjusted) increasing by 1,600. Tourism Minister Paschal Donohoe welcomed the positive data in respect of overseas tourism. ‘I am very pleased to see that our overseas visitors continue to grow. 2014 saw the fourth consecutive year of growth in visitor numbers. In fact, 2014 broke all previous records in terms of the number of overseas visits from key markets like North America, Germany, France and Spain. We have targeted further growth in 2015 and as part of the …

Millions of people around the world will be reading and hearing all about Clare’s Wild Atlantic Way over the coming weeks and months,  following this week’s visit by journalists from 13 different countries. Invited here by Tourism Ireland, the group is made up of influential journalists from media outlets in the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, China, South Africa, India and Brazil. They are here to experience some of the many things to see and do along Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way and to then write or broadcast about it on their return home, to inspire prospective travellers to come and experience this part of Ireland for themselves. Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said,”Fact-finding visits like this are an important element of Tourism Ireland’s overall promotional effort; they are a really effective way for us to get positive exposure for Clare and Ireland through the media around the world. The publicity value of the …