‘Gathering’ hopes to attract 300,000 visitors

A host of celebrities and cultural ambassadors will help attract tourists to Ireland next year as part of “The Gathering”, which it is hoped will attract 300,000 overseas visitors next year.

Ministers travelling overseas will be involved in launching the initiative on St Patrick’s Day. Prestigious landmarks will be turned green including the London Eye and Niagara Falls.

Leo Varadkar, the tourism minister, said: “It’s a call out to the Irish diaspora ... to everyone who has a love of Ireland, to come to Ireland and visit us in 2013 and visit one of the big events that we have planned.”