Ireland hosting this summer’s Women’s Rugby World Cup could provide a future windfall for the island’s tourism, Tourism Ireland believes.
Pool stages kick off on August 9 in UCD in Dublin and the finals will be played in Belfast (Queen’s and Kingspan Stadium) on August 22-26.
Joan O’Shaughnessy, Chairman of Tourism Ireland, and Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, with the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 trophy, in the Tourism Ireland office
The all-island tourism body will be holding promotions in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, France, Japan, Canada and the United States tied in with the sports event.
- It’s produced a new video, highlighting the welcoming nature of the island of Ireland and its people here in English, Japanese, French, Italian and Spanish
- A special page on Tourism Ireland’s international website, Ireland.com, which attracted about 19.3m visitors last year;
- In France, Tourism Ireland will partner with Midi Olympique – a bi-weekly rugby newspaper with about 100,000 readers – and its website, Rugbyrama.fr. An eight-page article about the island of Ireland will run in the 9 August edition, to coincide with the start of the tournament.
- Tourism Ireland will also support send-off events for the various women’s teams in France, Italy, Canada and Spain, before they depart for Dublin.
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: “Tourism Ireland’s latest campaign is designed to encourage rugby fans around the world to visit the island of Ireland this summer. We’re inviting them to come and join in the electric atmosphere of Dublin and Belfast’s great sporting arenas and explore these beautiful cities as they enjoy the games.” Tourism Ireland is also supporting the IRFU’s bid to host the Rugby World Cup in 2023.
