Tourism Ireland launches global drive

TOURISM Ireland yesterday launched a global advertising campaign to promote the island of Ireland overseas over the next three years.

The move comes as it emerged that the number of trips by overseas visitors to Ireland fell by just over 4% from September to November last, representing a decline of 65,300 overall.

The tourism campaign went live on television in Britain yesterday and will appear on TV in France and Germany. The campaign will also feature in cinemas in Britain, the US, Spain, Italy and online globally.

The soundtrack for the TV ads is taken from Fallen Empires, the latest album by Co Down band Snow Patrol. The tagline for the new campaign — Jump into Ireland — is designed to convey a sense of playfulness and to reflect the immersive nature of a holiday here.

The tourism campaign was launched on a day that also greeted the new daily, direct Emirates service from Dubai to Dublin.

Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “This new global campaign has been designed to help us build on the return to growth achieved last year, when overseas tourism to the island of Ireland grew from all main markets and grew ahead of our competitors, regaining market share.

“While there is no doubt that recent economic turmoil has brought increased uncertainty, affecting business and consumer confidence in markets overseas, the overall outlook for travel and tourism remains positive.

“We are targeting further growth in 2012 and in the years ahead and our goal is to welcome over 9 million overseas visitors to the island by 2015, exceeding the record year for tourism of 2007.”

However, the latest figures from the CSO show that in the period September to November 2011, the total number of trips to Ireland fell 4.1% to 1,519,300, an overall decrease of 65,300 compared to the corresponding period 12 months earlier.

Trips by residents of the US and Canada decreased by 11.7% to 224,500 while trips by residents of other areas decreased by 6.4% to 83,900. Visitors from European countries other than Britain dropped by 2.9% to 513,300 while visitors from Britain decreased by 2.0%.

The CSO figures also show a decline in the number of trips abroad by Irish residents. These fell by 3.7% to 1,522,200 from September to November compared to 2010.