Tourism team promote Shannon

A SHANNON Development team led by chairman Cllr John Brassil has returned from a tourism promotion visit to the US.

Mr Brassil, on arrival at Shannon yesterday, reported a surge of interest in Ireland from US holidaymakers at the Milwaukee Irish Fest in Wisconsin.

“The Shannon Development tourism team and I were delighted with the reaction from US people we talked to at this major festival. Over the course of the four-day event we talked to literally thousands of US people and handed out a range of tourist brochures promoting Limerick and the Shannon Region as a must-visit holiday destination.”

More than 125,000 people attended the festival, which is the world’s largest annual Irish cultural event.

Mr Brassil said: “This is just one of a number of initiatives that Shannon Development is undertaking in the US market this year. We recently signed agreements with a number of airlines and tourism operators to drive additional bed nights to the Shannon Region. One of these campaigns has already resulted in 20,000 additional bed nights from the US this year.”

Shannon Development has negotiated partnership deals with 15 US travel operators who include niche promoters of golf holidays. The company’s marketing is targeted at US cities that have flights to Shannon and key feeder hubs.

Mr Brassil said: “As part of this initiative Shannon Development is working on packages with two airlines who service the US market — Aer Lingus and US Airways.”