Tourism Ireland Launches Promotional Campaign

Tourism Ireland Chief Executive, Niall Gibbons. RollingNews.ie photo

By Irish Echo Staff

Today is the first day of summer in the U.S. and midsummer in Ireland, but is the longest day of the year on both sides of the Atlantic.

Regardless of designation, Tourism Ireland is banking on the return of summer being a changing point after more than a year of pandemic travails.

With this in mind, and stating that it is building anticipation for future trips to Ireland and getting ready to roll out the green carpet to overseas visitors, Tourism Ireland has launched a new $4.2 million promotional campaign "to build anticipation for holidays in Ireland this summer."

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According to a release, the recent announcement about the re-opening of international travel to Ireland on July 19 was "excellent news for everyone working in the Irish tourism and hospitality sector."


Tourism Ireland has been actively planning for this restart and is now ready to roll out a significant promotional kick-start campaign to entice and welcome back overseas visitors, said the release.


Niall Gibbons, Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland, said: "Phase one involves a major digital video campaign, which goes live from June 7.


"Called ‘Let’s get back to Ireland,' the online video will build anticipation for holidays in Ireland this summer. It will be promoted via online video platforms (including YouTube), on social media, mobile devices, as well as on Connected TV (television that can stream digital content), in nine different markets: Great Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries and Switzerland.


“We are delighted to unveil our new campaign, ‘Let’s get back to Ireland,' which will help build anticipation for trips to Ireland this summer, among holiday makers in our key overseas markets.


"We know from our research that there is significant pent-up demand among overseas visitors to return to Ireland as soon as possible. However, we also know that there will be significant competition, as every destination across the globe has experienced the impact of COVID and will be seeking their share of the recovery.


"As international travel begins to restart, the priority for Tourism Ireland will be to keep the island of Ireland front and centre in consumers’ minds. Our kick-start campaign will need to punch through the noise and create an immediate desire to visit.”


The release noted that two million of Global visitors to Ireland were North Americans delivering revenue of around US$2.3 billion for the economy in 2019.


Phase two of Tourism Ireland’s kick-start activity will go live in July. This will be a separate campaign, which will deliver a very clear "book now" message to prospective international visitors and will single-mindedly drive visitor numbers back to Ireland.


Before COVID-19, overseas tourism had recorded nine consecutive years of record growth.


"In fact, 2019 surpassed all previous records when we welcomed 11.3 million overseas visitors to the island of Ireland," the release concluded.

 

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