Tourism Ireland is hoping that greater air connectivity will push up German visitor numbers as it made its first marketing push of the year in Europe’s biggest economy.
The new Transavia service from Munich to Dublin begins in early April, while there will be a new Lufthansa connection from Frankfurt to Shannon, announced for summer 2017. The Lufthansa service between Munich and Dublin will be expanded to 13 flights a week from the end of March.
The all-island tourist board is promoting Ireland at CMT (the Caravan, Motor & Tourism Fair) in Stuttgart. Tourism Ireland is joined at CMT by 14 tourism businesses from the island of Ireland.
The nine-day travel fair attracted 220,000 visitors in 2016 – including tour operators and travel agents. The promotion follows the first airing of Tourism Ireland’s first TV ad campaign in seven years in the United States.
Sonja Fischer, Tourism Ireland (fourth left), with Star Wars and Game of Thrones characters and the tourism companies from the island of Ireland participating in CMT Stuttgart.
Zoë Redmond, Tourism Ireland’s manager for Central Europe, said: “CMT in Stuttgart is our first major promotion of 2017 in Germany, providing an excellent opportunity to spread the word about the many great things to see and do on the island of Ireland and to entice visitors to put Ireland on their holiday ‘wish-list’ for 2017.
“2016 was another record-breaking year for visitor numbers from Germany to Ireland, with the most recent CSO figures showing an increase of over 3pc for September to November. Tourism Ireland will roll out an extensive programme of promotional activity throughout 2017 – to keep the momentum going and build on that growth.”
