They are the lucky winners of a competition organised by Tourism Ireland in China in conjunction with Morning Call and Youku.com – one of the country’s most influential online video platforms (similar to YouTube).
Last September, Tourism Ireland, Tourism NI and Fáilte Ireland invited Chinese TV celebrity and musician Mr Gao Xiaosong to film in Ireland forMorning Call. As a result, images of Ireland were seen by some 10 million people across China, during an episode of the talk show, which aired on Youku.com.
Following the visit, Tourism Ireland in China partnered with Morning Call and Youku.com – and ran a competition on Weibo, one of China’s most popular social media sites, which asked followers to translate a W.B. Yeats quote. Two lucky people won a trip to the island of Ireland! They arrived last week and are visiting places like Titanic Belfast, St George’s Market, Guinness Storehouse, Kildare Village, the Cliffs of Moher and Galway city.
James Kenny, Tourism Ireland’s Manager China, said: “Tourism Ireland was delighted to work up with Morning Call and Youku.com, to highlight Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland in China through our joint Weibo competition.
“China is the largest outbound travel market in the world and one that Tourism Ireland is committed to growing over the coming years. In 2017, we welcomed an estimated 70,000 Chinese visitors to the island of Ireland; the introduction of direct flights to Dublin from Beijing and Hong Kong last month is a major game-changer and offers a real opportunity for us to grow this emerging travel market in 2018 and over the coming years.”
