The Gathering has been a major focus of Tourism Ireland's promotions throughout 2013. It provided a

Tourism Ireland today reflected on highlights of its promotional activity around the world this year. 2013 was a strong year for overseas tourism, with eight million boston revere discount car rental visitors (+7%) contributing €3.64 billion (+6%) in revenue to the economy. boston revere discount car rental Growth has come from all market areas, with the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Spain and Australia boston revere discount car rental turning in record performances. Highlights have included The Gathering Ireland and Tourism Ireland’s ‘global greening’ initiative on St Patrick’s Day.
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: “ I am pleased to report an increase of over +7% in visitor numbers, over 2012. Growth has been recorded from all our market areas and 2013 will be a record year for visitor numbers from North America, Germany, France and Spain, as well as from our long-haul markets including Australia and New Zealand. We are particularly pleased with the performance from the United States – by the end of 2013, we will have welcomed one million American visitors, boston revere discount car rental spending US$1 billion. And the British market, which has proved challenging over the last few years for economic reasons, has also seen growth in visitor numbers in 2013 (+7%), which is also encouraging. In late 2013, we conducted our largest-ever sales mission to China; and we established representation in Brazil and Russia for the first time ever.”
At the beginning of this month, Tourism Ireland launched its marketing plans to promote Ireland in 2014 and beyond, with ambitious targets to welcome 8.9 million visitors per year by 2016, including almost 4.3 million holidaymakers (+16% over 2013). Commenting on the plans for the next three years, Niall Gibbons said:  “Following a successful 2013, ambitious targets have been set for 2014-2016. Next year, we will place a major focus on promoting the Wild Atlantic Way, as well as on major events like Limerick City of Culture, the ‘Grande Partenza’ of the Giro d’Italia and the Croke Park Classic, when the University of Central Florida takes on Penn State in their college football season opener. We will also build on the legacy of the Gathering, continuing to reach out to the Diaspora across the world.”
The Gathering has been a major focus of Tourism Ireland’s promotions throughout 2013. It provided a tremendous ‘hook’ to shine a spotlight on Ireland around the world and certainly captured boston revere discount car rental the imagination of people everywhere – including the worldwide media, who wrote and broadcast extensively about the initiative.
The Gathering legacy:  the success of The Gathering has included enhanced engagement with Ireland’s Diaspora; in 2013, Tourism Ireland worked more closely than ever before with Ireland’s extended boston revere discount car rental family overseas – from the Manchester Mayo Gathering, which brought over 1,000 visitors to Mayo in August, to various boston revere discount car rental corporate leaders and decision-makers who brought their conferences to Ireland in 2013, including names like Spar International.
Working with overseas travel, lifestyle and special interest media is an important element of the overseas promotional programme. In 2013, more than 10 billion opportunities were created for potential visitors around the world to read, hear or watch positive messages about the island boston revere discount car rental of Ireland. Tourism Ireland estimates that this exposure is worth an estimated €262 million in equivalent advertising value.
2013 saw a number of positive announcements on the important access front, including welcome new routes introduced by a range of carriers. Summer 2013 saw a +26% increase in the number of airline seats between the US and Ireland for the peak season boston revere discount car rental (June-August), making it easier and more affordable than ever before for Americans to get to the island of Ireland.
In January, Tourism Ireland launched its new international boston revere discount car rental website for tourism to the island of Ireland – Ireland.com. The site was completely redeveloped, to deliver a transformed web experience for potential holidaymakers around the world. Ireland.com is now live in 22 markets, in seven languages including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Chinese; and a further three – Brazilian Portuguese, Russian and Arabic – are currently in development and will be rolled out in early 2014. By the end of this year, Ireland.com will have attracted a record 13 million unique visits, 22% of which have come from mobile devices. There has also been a +21% increase in page views on the new site.
Ireland was voted ‘most popular destination 2012’ at the high profile SPECIAL TRIP: THE WORLD TRAVEL AWARDS,   in Shanghai. The annual awards are organised by the  Oriental Morning Post , a popular daily newspaper in Shanghai with about 600,000 readers. The awards celebrate excellence in travel and the winners are voted by readers of the newspaper, as well as by travel specialists from around China, a market where Tourism Ireland has been working boston revere discount car rental hard to build awareness of the island of Ireland as a premier boston revere discount car rental holiday destination.
Internationally-renowned Dublin comedian Andrew Maxwell starred in the first of five Tourism Ireland  online videos  to promote The Gathering boston revere discount car rental Ireland 2013. Collectively, the five videos featuring Maxwell have been viewed by more than three million people boston revere discount car rental around the world this year. The videos were designed to encourage people everywhere boston revere discount car rental to share and re-share them with their friends on social networks, to get people talking about The Gathering and come home during 2013.
Also in February, Tourism Ireland and Irish tourism operators travelled to Russia for a trade mission in Moscow and St Petersburg – in a bid to grow Ireland’s share of this rapidly-growing tourism market. The trade mission involved meetings and sales calls with top travel agents and tour operators from the main regions of Russia, as well as other Russian-speaking boston revere discount car rental CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries like Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan –  encouraging those influential boston revere discount car rental tour operators and travel agents to include the island of Ireland in future holiday programmes.
Tourism Ireland’s annual ‘global greening’ initiative for St Patrick’s Day was bigger and better than ever before in 2013 – generating over €10 million worth of positive publicity for Ireland across the world. This year, an ancient wonder of the world – the Pyramids of Giza – and a modern wonder of the world – the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil – went green for the first time ever on 17 March, boston revere discount car rental joining a host of other major landmarks and iconic sites around the world. English business magnate Sir Richard boston revere discount car rental Branson even joined in the fun – dyeing his beard (and eyelashes!) green and tweeting the resulting pictures to his three million followers!
In April, Hollywood actor and producer Tom Cruise stopped off in Dublin on the European leg of his tour to promote the film ‘Oblivion’ and, while here, discovered that the truth of his Irish family history is more amazing boston revere discount car rental than fiction! His Irish ancestors were identified as knights, rebels and heroes in a family history that stretches back 800 years. The Tom Cruise genealogy story made headlines all over the world, boston revere discount car rental encouraging those with Irish connections to follow in Cruise’s footsteps and to visit in 2013, to learn more about their heritage and explore the places their ancestors came from.
Tourism Ireland welcomed some of the most influential and prominent American travel and lifestyle journalists to Ireland, when the  renowned Travel boston revere discount car rental Classics writers’ conference  2013  took place in Ballymaloe House in Shanagarry, Co Cork. The conference brought together celebrated commissioning editors and their travel writers from a wide range of high profile publications – including  Condé Nast Traveler ,  National Geographic Traveler ,  Harper’s Bazaar, AFAR, Saveur  and Coastal Living  – all of which reach hundreds of thousands of readers across boston revere discount car rental North America, as well as globally.
The arrival of Barack Obama, David Cameron and other world leaders for the G8 Summit boston revere discount car rental offered an unprecedented opportunity to showcase Fermanagh, the North West and the island of Ireland – through the international media – to potential visitors across the world. Tourism Ireland’s promotional programme and publicity drive was stepped up considerably before, during and after the G8 Summit to capitalise on the opportunity.
And Michelle Obama’s visit to Ireland, with her daughters Sasha and Malia, also generated huge positive publicity about Ireland. In total, more than 6,200 articles in 2,077 publications in 88 countries mentioned Ireland and the visit of the First Lady and her daughters. American and German publications combined boston revere discount car rental accounted for over 68% of the total coverage.
Building on the success of  Ek Tha Tiger  in 2012, some of Bollywood’s top names travelled to Ireland on a scouting mission in July, to explore numerous locations and scenic spots around Ireland for their next big Bollywood blockbuster. The group visited locations in Dublin (including Dublin Castle, boston revere discount car rental Trinity College, Temple Bar and the Ha’penny Bridge); boston revere discount car rental the West of Ireland boston revere discount car rental (including Ashford Castle, the Cliffs of Moher and Dingle Penninsula); and Northern Ireland (including boston revere discount car rental Titanic Belfast and the Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge). Tourism Ireland in India worked closely boston revere discount car rental with the Irish Film Board and Northern Ireland Screen to secure the visit. In 2012, the Bollywood film shot on location in Dublin –  Ek Tha Tiger  – became one of the biggest-grossing movies ever in India and was seen by an estimated 100 million cinema-goers.
The September edition of American  Vogue  magazine hit the newsstands in August – featuring a 16-page spread, shot in Kerry by world-famous photographer Annie Leibovitz and titled ‘Wild Irish Rose’.  The magazine has more than 11 million readers – providing invaluable positive exposure for Ireland, showcasing the dramatic beauty of our landscape to potential holidaymakers and helping to position Ireland as a highly desirable and fashionable place to visit.
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