The Northern Ireland Tourist Board mounted a major promotion in Dublin recently.
The Northern Ireland Showcase – held at the city’s Royal Hospital Kilmainham – was attended by around 120 travel representatives and Republic of Ireland media figures. They included best prospect tour operators, ITOA members, professional conference organisers, and destination management companies, as well as selected press and Northern Ireland tourism industry representatives.
The NITB-organised showcase provided a significant platform to promote the success of the UK City of Culture, the G8 Summit, the World Police & Fire Games, and other major tourism events in 2013.
The NITB also used the occasion to highlight new products within Northern Ireland’s nine key tourism destinations and the ‘Big Start’ of the Giro d’Italia in May 2014.
NITB Chairman Howard Hastings said: “Northern Ireland’s people, its places, its world-class attractions, food, stories and experiences are all fantastic tourism products abounding with opportunity for the people of the South.
“It is a priority for the NITB to grow visitor numbers in the Republic of Ireland market, so connecting with the travel trade and the media to showcase what we have to offer and keep the industry updated with what is happening in Northern Ireland is therefore very important.”
Visitors from the Republic took around 430,000 overnight trips into Northern Ireland in 2012 – over a fifth of all out-of-State trips taken.
