Tourism chiefs hope to cash in on famous visits

KEY travel and lifestyle media from Britain and the US here to cover the historic visits by the British Queen and US President Barack Obama will help generate up to €150 million in positive publicity worldwide, tourism chiefs predicted.

Tourism Ireland has launched a major marketing drive in Britain and the US to capitalise on the events, and plans to use the opportunity to convince potential holiday -makers to visit Ireland.

According to head of Tourism Ireland, Niall Gibbons, more than 1,000 journalists from Britain, the US and elsewhere are expected to be here to cover the visits.

“They will be beaming the island of Ireland directly into the homes of millions of potential visitors around the world.

“We are working flat out to exploit this unique opportunity to highlight Ireland as a wonderful holiday destination, not only in Britain and the US, but in other markets around the world,” Mr Gibbons said.

Tourism Ireland has commissioned film footage of the locations on the itineraries, which is being distributed to media in Britain and all over the US. This covers the sites being visited, landscape and scenery, culture and heritage, as well as themes like Irish food, equestrian, lakes, angling and cruising.

Next week to coincide with the queen’s visit, ads will air on key British channels including ITV 1, 2 and 3, C4 and a range of satellite channels.

In the US, Tourism Ireland will issue a media news release to 2,000 broadcast and online media, with video footage embedded featuring an interview with genealogist Fiona Fitzsimons, who has researched Mr Obama’s ancestral heritage in Moneygall, Co Offaly.