Fáilte Ireland eyeing €157m business tourism bonanza

Flights from Cork to the US will provide a huge opportunity to attract business tourists to the south-west region, according to Fáilte Ireland.

The tourism body has set a target of winning €157m in business tourism for Ireland in 2017, with one business tourist worth three times as much as a leisure tourist.

Fáilte Ireland said that Norwegian Air International’s plans for Cork flights to New Hampshire’s Portsmouth International Airport or TF Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, which are about an hour’s drive to Boston, would open up new markets in the New England states on top of the traditional business powerhouse areas such as New York, Chicago and Boston, from where up to 60% of Cork’s foreign direct investment arrives.