The great dining hall of Trinity College, Dublin, resonated to the traditional music and flamenco of Andalucia as the popular region of Spain held its annual thank you dinner and workshop, ‘Andalucia Clearly Irresistible’, for the Irish travel trade.
The stunning performance by the flamenco company ACME (A Company Men Entertainment) with dancer Sergio Aranda, flutist Diego Villegas, and guitarist Adriano Lozano, culminated in a standing ovation from an appreciative audience.
Speaking to Irish Travel Trade News, Antonio Martin-Machuca Ales from the Junta de Andalucia said that the region remains very popular with Irish visitors. There was growth of 5% in 2013 in the numbers of Irish over 2012.
He added that “Ireland is a very friendly market” and that the Irish travel trade is very important to Andalucia as it would be impossibile to achieve the numbers without the support of Irish travel agents. More than 300,000 Irish visitors travel to Andalucia every year.
H.E. Javier Garrigues Flores, Ambassador of Spain to Ireland, attended the function and paid tribute to the excellent work by Gonzalo Ceballos and his team at the Spanish Tourism Office in Dublin. This was of particular importance in the current economic environment in Spain.
Martin Skelly, ITAA President, thanked Andalucia for the tremendous support that they provide to the the trade and looked forward to continuing to work with the region in the future.
In 2013 Spain attracted 60.6 million visitors, which was the best-ever year for international visitors, while in terms of revenue there was a 9% increase in spend.
