Group paves way for Chinese tourism to Ireland

THE first organised tourism group from China, which is in Ireland this week, could pave the way for millions of other visitors from that vast country in the years ahead.

Fri, 03 Feb, 2006 - 00:00

Donal Hickey

Yesterday, the 21-strong group sampled the delights of Killarney in the early springtime, viewing the lakes and also taking in Muckross House, followed by a tour of the scenic Ring of Kerry.

Ireland was granted approved destination status (ADS) by the Chinese authorities in May 2004.

This move opens the way for organised group tourism from China.

Tourism Ireland’s director of corporate services, Niall Gibbons, said the Chinese market has the potential to be highly lucrative for Irish tourism as Chinese visitors were the biggest shoppers coming here.

“With a population of over 1.3 billion and a rapidly expanding economy, China has the potential to exert greater influence over the development and marketing of tourism destinations worldwide over the next decade than perhaps any other country on the globe,’’ he said.

“Almost 29 million Chinese travelled overseas in 2004, and 50 million people are projected to travel from China in 2010, soaring to 100 million by 2020.

‘’This will make China one of the world’s top-three outbound tourism markets and clearly Ireland wants a part of that business,” he added.

The first group’s itinerary included Dublin, Powerscourt, Glendalough, Waterford, Cork, Killarney, Kerry and Shannon, before departing for three nights in London on Friday.

The group consists of 21 people of all ages, and includes one family with a year-old baby.

Their five-night visit to Ireland was organised by tour operators Gullivers.

Last year, Tourism Ireland appointed its first representative in China, Susan Li, who is based in Shanghai.

She has been identifying segments of the Chinese market offering the best potential for Ireland.

Tourism Ireland has a website targeted specifically at the Chinese market.

Brochures in two of the major Chinese languages, Mandarin and Cantonese, have also been widely circulated.