Tourism Minister Gordon Lyons joined Tourism Ireland in London this week, to promote Northern Ireland at its annual B2B tourism workshop, ‘Flavours of Ireland’.
Now in its 20th year, ‘Flavours’ took place in the Guildhall, in the City of London, and was attended by around 100 top global inbound tour operators who deliver business from all over the world, including the United States, Mainland Europe, Asia, Australasia and Africa. The tour operators met, and did business with, tourism companies from across the island of Ireland, including 20 companies from Northern Ireland.
‘Flavours’ provides an excellent opportunity for the participating tourism providers from Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland to highlight and sell their tourism product and to build valuable relationships with these key decision-makers. The global inbound operators are preparing to sign contracts for 2023 and beyond; it is, therefore, a key time to influence the addition of new tourism products to their programmes that have the potential to deliver more regional and longer-stay business for Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland.
David Boyce, Tourism Ireland’s Head of Global Inbound and Emerging Markets, said: “We are delighted that Minister Lyons joined Tourism Ireland’s annual ‘Flavours of Ireland’ event in London this week, where he met with leading global inbound tour operators. Before the pandemic, in 2019, these tour operators were responsible for delivering around 5 million bed-nights to the island of Ireland. As they prepare to sign contracts for 2023, we very much welcome the business and networking opportunities our workshop presented. Our aim is to increase awareness of Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland among these hugely influential global inbound tour operators and to help our tourism partners from the island of Ireland secure a greater share of the huge worldwide tourism market.”
