The Visit USA Committee plus partners rounded off a three-city promotional tour of Cork, Limerick and Dublin with a networking lunch in Dublin’s trendy Restaurant Forty One.
![john Spollen,Cassidy Travel:xxxx:,David O'Grady ,xxxx; and Simon Daly,Topflight were at the Visit USA lunc.](https://ittn.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_6759-300x160.jpg)
The energetic Chair of the Irish Visit USA Committee, Ciara Foley, Platinum Travel, welcomed the trade and thanked them for all the bookings that they had made to the USA during the past year and looked forward to their continued support.
![Ciara XXX the Chair of the Visit USA committee.](https://ittn.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_6771-180x300.jpg)
Massachusetts was represented by Patricia Purdue, who said that Irish visitors to Boston and to the State of Massachusetts continues to grow steadily. There are now 21 flights a week to Boston, daily from Shannon and double daily from Dublin. There is also a new outlet shopping mall, North of Boston, which is a mere eight minutes on the local train.
![Patricia Purdue,Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism,Barry Hammond, Topflight; and Paul Hackett,Click and Go.](https://ittn.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_6769-300x201.jpg)
The inscrutable Greg Evans was on hand to brief the trade on the latest news from Philadelphia. It seems that the city is doing well and is looking forward to a visit from His Holiness Pope Francis this year and, in addition, the city has just beaten New York as the venue for the Democratic National Convention. So check your dates very carefully when you are booking your clients to Philadelphia!
![Clodagh Oxley, Visit USA , and Fiona Noonan, American Airlines were at networking event .](https://ittn.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_6762-300x212.jpg)
According to Neil Jones, New Orleans is party town while the State of Louisiana is the party state. New Orleans is back up and on its feet and has 1,300 restaurants offering every imaginable type of food.
![Neil Jones represented New Orleans and Louisiana.](https://ittn.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_6779-217x300.jpg)
North Carolina has 332 miles of spectacular coastline and is a mecca for history buffs. Also, no building over four floors can be built on the coastline, Duncan McCubbin, Account Manager for North Carolina, informed the agents during his presentation at the Visit USA event.
![Duncan McCubbin represented North Carolina at the lunch .](https://ittn.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_6783-253x300.jpg)
![Orla Tooher,Go Hop;joined Rachel Dempsey,World Travel Center; and Leah Parmeshwar, Topflight at the lunch.](https://ittn.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_6765-300x209.jpg)
![Declan Power from Shannon Airport was in good form reflecting the growth in passenger numbers .](https://ittn.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_6774-300x245.jpg)