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 five-day event provided a valuable opportunity to network, negotiate and exchange vital contracts.
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said,“The large representation of our tourism partners from Ireland at ITB this year was extremely welcome – and essential in the highly competitive global marketplace. Germans who are interested in taking a holiday which involves sightseeing and local culture remain our core audience; we are also targeting people who engage in outdoor activities while on holidays. ITB provided an excellent opportunity to spread the word about the many great things to see and do in Co Clare, along the Wild Atlantic Way and elsewhere in Ireland.”
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.