TOURISM IRELAND IS aiming to welcome 7.74 million visitors in 2015 – surpassing the previous record year of 2007.
This figure would represent growth of 6% over 2014 and deliver almost €4 billion to the Irish economy next year.
In the longer term, the aim is to welcome some 10 million visitors to Ireland in 2025, contributing €5 billion to the economy and helping to sustain about 250,000 jobs.
So, how will the organisation be reaching out to tourists?
A global advertising campaign ‘Jump into Ireland’ will be launched next January in 22 markets around the world – on television, in cinema and online.
Ireland’s ‘best prospect’ visitors will be targeted more closely, including Britain, North America and mainland Europe. Emerging markets will also be targeted, particularly China and India where Tourism Ireland will highlight the new British-Irish Visa Scheme.
In 2015 the organisation will promote the recent investment in the Wild Atlantic Way; 150 years since the birth of poet and Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats; and the Irish year of design (ID2015).
Speaking at the launch of the marketing initiative, Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe said it is “crucial” that Ireland shows “no signs of complacency where the increase in our overseas visitor numbers is concerned”.
By the end of 2014, it is expected that 7.3 million people will have visited Ireland this year. If achieved, this would represent an 8.8% increase over 2013. Revenue generated by international visitors is expected to be approximately €3.7 billion, a 10.9% increase over last year.
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said the targets for 2015 are “ambitious” but achievable.
“We will continue to place a major focus on promoting the Wild Atlantic Way, as well as on Dubline (the Dublin Discovery Trail). We will promote specific themes, including ID2015 and Yeats 2015.
“We will highlight the new British-Irish Visa Scheme in China and India, which will enable Chinese and Indian visitors to visit both Ireland and the UK, including Northern Ireland, on a single visa of either country,” Gibbons said.
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