Tourism office targets lucrative Chinese market

AN Irish tourism office opened in China yesterday in a bid to attract 50,000 Chinese visitors to Ireland by 2009.

Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin said Tourism Ireland’s first office in China was opened in Shanghai in recognition of the growing significance of Chinese tourism.

At the launch in Shanghai, Niall Gibbons, director of corporate services with Tourism Ireland, said: “This office gives us a base on which to build to achieve our target of 50,000 visitors by 2009.”