Tourism Ireland leads sales mission to the UAE and India

Details of Tourism Ireland's recent Sales Mission to the UAE and India have been released

A delegation of tourism companies from the island of Ireland is participating in the targeted sales mission, to grow their business from these important emerging tourism markets. 

Over the coming days, the companies from Ireland – including hoteliers, visitor attractions and destination management companies – will take part in a series of workshops and networking events, to meet and conclude deals with hundreds of tour operators and travel agents in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Mumbai and New Delhi. The delegation will also meet influential travel journalists and bloggers.

The objective of the sales mission is to build awareness of the many things to see and do on a holiday in Ireland and encourage tour operators and travel agents in the UAE and India to include the island of Ireland in their programmes and brochures for 2020 and beyond. 

The sales mission also provides Tourism Ireland with a good opportunity to highlight ease of access to Ireland – including the British Irish Visa Scheme, which allows Indian travellers to visit both Ireland and the UK, including Northern Ireland, using a single visa; and, the fact that Ireland is now visa free for UAE nationals.

Siobhan McManamy, Tourism Ireland’s Director of Markets, said: “Our sales mission this week gives our tourism partners from Ireland a really good platform to inform and influence the travel professionals they meet about what the island of Ireland has to offer and, importantly, to encourage them to include the destination in their future brochures and programmes. Tourism Ireland is committed to growing visitor numbers from our emerging tourism markets and our annual sales missions play a significant role in helping us achieve this goal.”

Some facts and figures relating to Tourism Ireland:

  • Tourism Ireland is the organisation responsible for promoting the island of Ireland overseas as a leading holiday destination.
  • Tourism is the island of Ireland’s largest indigenous industry; responsible for in excess of 4% of GNP in the Republic of Ireland and employing around 325,000 people across the island.
  • In 2019, we welcomed almost 11.2 million overseas visitors to the island of Ireland, delivering revenue of almost €5.8 billion.
  • Tourism Ireland’s international website is www.ireland.com, 29 market sites available in 11 language versions around the world, which attracted around 23+ million visitors in 2019.

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