Aran Brazil of the Irish Sun was announced as winner of the Germany Irish Travel Writer’s Awards, hosted by the German National Tourist Office in conjunction with Bavaria Tourism and Allgaeu Airport. Aran’s winning entry was a profile of Bremen. Second prize was awarded to Eoin Higgins writing for Cara, the Aer Lingus inflight magazine, about Frankfurt, and Cathy Desmond, writing for the Irish Examiner with a feature on Munich, was in third place.
Hosting the reception were (above) Claudia Mitchell, Bavaria Tourist Board; Marina Siladji, Allgaeu Airport; and Klaus Lohmann, Director, German National Tourist Office – UK & Ireland.
The event combined a travel trade reception for professionals from the Irish travel industry with the awards, which are conducted in recognition of editorial excellence by Irish travel writers. Over 50 guests attended, held with kind permission of His Excellency, the German Ambassador Matthias Hoepfner, at the Ambassador’s residence in Dublin.
Irish Visitors
Interest in Germany as a travel destination, cultural destination and known the world over for its popular traditions and customs, continues to rise. Visitors from Ireland in July accounted for 51,299 overnight stays – an increase of 7.6% on the previous year. Value for money, plenty of convenient travel connections and a huge choice of holidays to suits all interests, are just some of the reasons that Germany continues to gain popularity with Ireland’s holiday makers.
Klaus Lohmann said: “Once more the standard of writing entered for these awards was extremely high and choosing a winner has been extremely difficult! We would like to congratulate all our winners and to thank all the talented and hard-working travel professionals who help to promote our wonderful country.
“ The variety of entries reflects the broad spectrum that Germany offers as a tourist destination, such as culture, nature, events, and cities. Added to that, Germany offers fantastic value for money. We believe that Germany will continue to become even more popular in future, as new and increased flight routes help to make this possible.”
