“Tourism Ireland has prioritised North America as a market which offers a strong return on investment, in terms of holiday visitors and expenditure. The most recent CSO figures, for January-August, indicate growth of +5% in arrivals from North America over the same eight-month period last year. Tourism Ireland is undertaking an extensive programme of targeted promotional activity to continue to grow North American visitor numbers and, in particular, to encourage more holidaymakers to explore our regions and less-visited attractions, during the shoulder and off-season months.” 

Tourism Ireland has set its sights on continued growth from the US for 2019 and is rolling out an extensive programme of promotions throughout the year. Phase two of Tourism Ireland’s new ad campaign, ‘Fill Your Heart with Ireland’, rolled out on major American television networks – including NBC, CBS, Fox and ABC – in Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Hartford, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Seattle, during the summer; the campaign was specially timed to better align with when American travellers start searching for fall and winter vacation ideas. 

Tourism Ireland continues to work with airlines serving the island of Ireland from the United States this autumn. The organisation’s publicity programme in the US will generate positive coverage for the island of Ireland this year worth more than €160 million in equivalent advertising value. 

Our important ‘culturally curious’ and ‘social energiser’ audiences are being targeted with distinctive vacation experiences, events and special offers tailored to their interests. Tourism Ireland is creating ‘stand out’ for the island of Ireland in the US, highlighting experiences like the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands, the Causeway Coastal Route, Ireland’s Ancient East, Belfast and Dublin. Promotions are helping grow travel to the regions of Ireland, during the shoulder and off-peak seasons.

Published tourismireland.com, 27 September 2019