Welcome initiative

TOURISM is one of the sectors we rely on to generate some growth and optimism around our economy.

Yesterday’s announcement of a €9 million marketing blitz is an important step towards realising its potential.

The immediate focus of the campaign is to stimulate an increase in the number of visitors to Ireland by reaching a worldwide audience of more than 20 million people in the next few months.

If even a small proportion of those people visit Ireland the campaign can be deemed a wonderful success, though convincing people to spend on leisure at a time of such uncertainty is doubly challenging. That the campaign is the result of co-operation between many interests in the sector suggests too the kind of industry-wide response our circumstances demand on so many fronts.

All of us have a part to play in making tourism campaigns like this work. We can put flesh on some of the old legends we give lip-service to, by actually making this an island of a hundred thousand welcomes. It is far easier to make people feel welcome in November than it is to get the sun to shine in the middle of our grey winter.