Ashford castle joins in with sales blitz to us west coast
Tourism Ireland together with a delegation of 20 tourism enterprises – including Ashford Castle – is undertaking a three-city trade and media blitz in the United States this week.
The last of the 2014 ‘Jump Into Ireland’ events is taking in the key west coast cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle.
With the Aer Lingus service between San Francisco and Dublin due to become a daily service next summer (currently it's five flights weekly), this week’s sales blitz is an ideal opportunity to target influential travel agents and tour operators on the west coast of the US, kickstarting the promotional effort for 2015 in this important tourism market.
The Jump Into Ireland schedule includes a B2B event in each city, showcasing the island of Ireland via a special travel TV show format to the influential American travel professionals in attendance. The events also include an opportunity for networking with influential travel and lifestyle media.
Alison Metcalfe, Tourism Ireland’s head of North America, said: “The United States is one of the most important markets for tourism to the island of Ireland and Tourism Ireland has undertaken a busy programme of promotions throughout 2014, to grow American visitor numbers.
“Our Jump Into Ireland sales blitz to San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle this week provides an excellent platform to kickstart our promotional effort for 2015 and to spread the word about the many great things to see and do right around the island of Ireland.”
This is set to be another record year for tourism from North America. According to the latest CSO figures, visitor numbers from the US and Canada have grown by 13.9 per cent for January to September - an extra 130,000 visitors compared with the same nine-month period in 2013.
Tourism Ireland’s Jump Into Ireland series of sales blitzes this year has already taken in Atlanta (Georgia), Sarasota and Boca Raton (Florida), Fort Worth, Houston and Austin (Texas), Chicago and Boston.