Tourism Ireland has put on hold the long running ‘Global Greening’ initiative, citing the energy crisis. Last year, the campaign was also paused, especially in the weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine.
In a statement to The Journal, a spokesperson for Tourism Ireland said: “For 2023, given the current energy crisis, Tourism Ireland has taken the decision not to promote the Global Greening initiative. Nonetheless, St Patrick’s Day is a hugely important date in our calendar and traditionally marks the real start of the tourism season for us.“
“It is a unique opportunity for Irish tourism and Tourism Ireland will be rolling out a huge programme of promotional activity over the coming week to leverage that opportunity.”
The greening initiative started in 2009. It was the Sky Tower in New Zealand that first went green and expanded the following year to the Sydney Opera House, continuing to grow to 425 sites in 53 countries a decade later in 2019.
Locations have included the London Eye, the Great Wall of China, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Christ the Redeemer statue and and the Pyramids of Giza.
