Ireland fifth most popular tourism destination on Facebook

Ireland is now the fifth most popular tourism destination in the world on Facebook, according to Tourism Ireland.

The organisation today said that its fanbase on the popular social networking site now numbers a quarter of a million people around the globe – and counting.

The organisation has grown its fanbase from zero at the beginning of 2010 to the grand total of 250,000 this week, making Ireland the fifth most popular country in the world.

Meanwhile the Facebook ‘multiplier effect’ means that the organisation is seeing growth of about 2,500 fans per day, officials said.

Tourism Ireland now has fans in 14 countries around the globe – including Great Britain, the US, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, India, Japan, New Zealand and the Gulf Countries.

"Whenever we ask people what most influences their choice of holiday destination, word of mouth is always the number one factor," said Mark Henry, Tourism Ireland’s Central Marketing Director.

"Social media now allows word of mouth about a holiday destination to reach a truly global audience."

Ireland was beaten in the Facebook ranking only by Australia (in pole position with 1,400,000 fans);

New Zealand (310,000); Spain (280,000) and Croatia (260,000).

“Having a fanbase of this size allows Tourism Ireland to communicate over 3.5 million messages about the island of Ireland each month to prospective visitors," Mr Henry added.

“When you consider that each of our fans has in turn an average of 130 friends, we can potentially engage with 32.5 million people worldwide today.”

Tourism Ireland is the organisation responsible for promoting the island of Ireland overseas as a holiday destination.

Approximately 6.6 million overseas visitors came to the island of Ireland in 2010, delivering revenue of approximately €3bn.

Overseas tourism business accounts for 59% of all tourism revenue.