Mayo business joins Tourism Ireland at world’s largest travel fair
Tourism Ireland, together with tourism businesses from across the island of Ireland – including The Grace Westport Estate – mounted a significant presence at World Travel Market (WTM) in London this week.
WTM is the largest B2B event in the global travel and tourism calendar and heralds the beginning of Ireland’s promotional drive overseas for 2026.
While taking place in London, WTM is an excellent opportunity to meet tour operators and travel trade from around the world, including those serving nascent markets like China, India and the Middle East, as well Great Britain, mainland Europe and North America.
Tourism Ireland helps over 750 SMEs through overseas events like WTM, where they connect with tour operators who bring visitors at scale. At WTM, over three days, around 3,600 commercial meetings were conducted on the Ireland stand, delivering overseas tourism business for the island of Ireland worth millions of euro.
The tourism businesses from Ireland – from premium hotels and resorts, whiskey distilleries and jaunting car tours to activity providers and hidden gems of heritage – engaged in meetings with international tour operators to negotiate and exchange vital contracts for 2026 and beyond, and ultimately to bring valuable tourists to our island.
Alice Mansergh, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “Our presence at World Travel Market was extremely important to kick-start our promotional drive overseas for 2026. We were delighted to have around 75 tourism companies from across the island of Ireland, including The Grace Westport Estate, joining us at this year’s WTM, with an estimated 3,600 commercial meetings taking place.
“World Travel Market presents a unique opportunity for the travel industry to meet, network, negotiate and contract business for 2026, and Tourism Ireland facilitates that connection. We are targeting visitors who do more, see more, enjoy more – and therefore spend more – during their time in Ireland, to help tourism businesses across our island thrive.”
This has been a year of change in tourism but there's opportunity ahead, including +12% growth in air connectivity to the island of Ireland this winter. Tourism Ireland’s message at WTM is that the island of Ireland has so much to offer across regions and seasons. The organisation’s focus remains on marketing the island effectively overseas, giving visitors compelling reasons to choose this destination.