Northern Ireland was promoted to around 240 top Spanish tour operators, travel agents and airline representatives, as well as to influential travel journalists – at Tourism Ireland’s ‘Irlanda llega a tu corazón’ (‘Fill your heart with Ireland’) events in Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona last week.
Eight tourism companies from the island of Ireland took part in the ‘Irlanda llega a tu corazón’ events, promoting and selling their products and services to the Spanish travel professionals attending in each city. Each event included a networking session, as well as a presentation to introduce Tourism Ireland’s new ‘Fill your heart with Ireland’ campaign and a virtual tour of the island of Ireland. And a Spanish MC also shared what fills their heart with Ireland and described their experience of holidaying here.
Guests were entertained at each event by musicians from the Belfast Trad Trail.
Susan Bolger, Tourism Ireland’s Manager Spain, said: “We’re really pleased that so many key Spanish travel professionals and journalists took the time to come and meet with our partners from Northern Ireland in Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona. Our aim is to increase awareness of the island of Ireland among these influential Spanish travel professionals and journalists, inspiring them to encourage their clients and readers to come and explore our regions and less-visited attractions, particularly during the off-peak season.”
Spain is the fifth-largest market for overseas tourism to the island of Ireland. In 2019, we welcomed 431,000 visitors from Spain to the island of Ireland, who spent £194 million during their time here.
