Mayo delegation visits Tourism Ireland in New York
REPRESENTATIVES of Mayo County Council and Castlebar Municipal District, who are in New York for the St. Patrick’s Day period, have met with senior executives from Tourism Ireland.
They were briefed on Tourism Ireland’s extensive promotional programme in the United States for 2018, which is in full swing right now.
The US is the second-largest market for tourism to the island of Ireland. 2017 was the fifth record-breaking year in a row for Irish tourism from the US, when we welcomed a record 1.83 American visitors.
Tourism Ireland recently launched a new strategy to continue to grow tourism from the United States, setting out ambitious targets which will see the island of Ireland welcome two million American visitors per year by 2021, representing growth of +23%; and will see revenue generated by American holidaymakers increase by +33%, to €1.37 billion per year.
Our important ‘culturally curious’ and ‘social energiser’ audiences are being targeted with distinctive vacation experiences, events and special offers tailored to their interests. Tourism Ireland is creating ‘stand out’ for the island of Ireland in the US, highlighting experiences like the Wild Atlantic Way, the Causeway Coastal Route and Ireland’s Ancient East. Promotions aim to grow travel to the regions of Ireland, during the shoulder and off-peak seasons.
Over the coming days, Tourism Ireland will participate in and promote the island of Ireland at a range of St. Patrick’s Day events across the United States. Numerous landmarks and iconic sites will participate in Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening initiative to celebrate St. Patrick and Ireland – including the ‘Welcome’ sign in Las Vegas, City Hall in San Francisco, Harbor Bridge in Corpus Christi and the world-famous Niagara Falls. And Chicago will be going all out to celebrate St. Patrick and Ireland once again this year, with sites across the city lighting up green – including Soldier Field, Navy Pier, the John Hancock Center, the Civic Opera House, the Wrigley Building, Novak Construction, State Street and the Irish American Heritage Center.