28 October 2016
By Bryan T. Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
Twenty-nine (29) Irish tourism companies, including outdoor events group Wanderlust (based in Glengarriff), travelled to Offenbach, near Frankfurt – to take part in a B2B workshop and networking event with leading German tour operators. The event was organised by Tourism Ireland, in a bid to grow visitor numbers from Germany, our third-largest tourism market, in 2017 and beyond.
The delegation from Ireland – which included hotels and B&Bs, visitor attractions, coach operators and destination management companies – met with German, Swiss and Austrian tour operators, in a bid to convince the influential travel professionals in attendance to include Ireland in their holiday programmes for 2017. Given that travel agents and tour operators continue to be an important booking channel for German holidaymakers, a key element of Tourism Ireland’s strategy is to work closely with the travel trade – both online and offline – in Germany.
Zoë Redmond, Tourism Ireland’s Manager for Central Europe, said: “Germany is our third-largest source of visitors and 2016 looks set to be another record year for German visitors to Ireland, with the latest CSO figures showing growth of over +4.3% for July to September. Right now, we are planning a busy programme of promotions for 2017, to keep the momentum growing and build on this year’s growth. Our workshop in Offenbach provided an excellent platform to kickstart our promotional effort for 2017 and to highlight the many things to see and do on a holiday in Co Cork and Ireland to influential German, Swiss and Austrian tour operators.”
