Leading Spanish cultural journalists from a number of high-profile Spanish media outlets – including daily newspapers and popular magazines – have been exploring the island of Ireland and our literary hotspots, as guests of Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland and Tourism NI.
The journalists – who have a combined readership of millions of people across Spain – are finding out about some of our literary greats like Oscar Wilde, WB Yeats, Seamus Heaney and CS Lewis. Tourism Ireland’s aim is to highlight our rich literary heritage in Spain – particularly to its important ‘culturally curious’ audience.
The journalists’ itinerary includes lots of places associated with Ireland’s famous writers and its literary heritage – including The Duke Pub (a favourite of Brendan Behan and Patrick Kavanagh), the Old Library at Trinity College, Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI), Marsh’s Library and the Linen Hall Library.
They’re visiting the Oscar Wilde House on Dublin’s Merrion Square, Yeats’ Country in Sligo and Seamus Heaney HomePlace in Bellaghy. The journalists will also follow the CS Lewis Trail in Belfast and Narnia Trail in Rostrevor and will visit the CS Lewis Reading Room at Queen’s University Belfast.
Susan Bolger, Tourism Ireland’s Manager Spain, said: “Tourism Ireland was delighted to invite these influential Spanish journalists to come and discover some of our top literary attractions and learn about our literary greats. The articles the journalists write when they return home will be read by millions of Spaniards, so this visit is a really good opportunity to showcase our rich literary heritage to a wide audience of prospective Spanish visitors.
“Tourism Ireland undertakes a busy publicity programme around the world each year to raise the profile of the island of Ireland – and visits by influential travel writers like these are a key element of that programme.”
Spain is the fifth-largest market for overseas tourism to the island of Ireland. In 2019, Ireland welcomed 431,000 visitors from Spain to the island of Ireland, who spent €218m during their time here.
