21 September 2019
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
Tourism Ireland, together with a delegation of 13 Irish and Canadian companies – including Sheenco Travel (based in Goleen), has been undertaking a three-city sales blitz to Canada this week. They’ve meeting with group tour organisers and travel agents in the cities of London (south-west Ontario), Ottawa and Montreal – to continue to grow Ireland’s share of this important travel market.
The sales blitz involved a B2B workshop and networking session in each city, where Sheenco Travel and the other Irish companies had the opportunity to sell to influential Canadian travel professionals – telling them about the many opportunities Ireland offers for group travel, as well as highlighting ease of access from Canada to Ireland, our rich heritage and culture and superb cuisine.
London, Ontario, Canada – (back, l-r) Sandra Moffatt, Tourism Ireland; Jason Powell, Mid & East Antrim Borough Council; Jennifer Zammit, Globus; Genevieve Sheehan, Sheenco Travel; Carmel Flynn, Parknasilla Resort; Aidan McNally, Teeling Whiskey; Eugene Garrighy, Doolin2Aran Ferries; Fiona Delahunty, Griffin Group; John Higgins, National Trust; (front, l-r) Colin Wynne, Moloney and Kelly Travel; Ron Lonsdale, Collette Vacations; Richard Byrne-Afoullouss, Adams & Butler; Ciaran Doherty and Dana Welch, Tourism Ireland; Conor Duffy, Royal Irish Tours; and Róisín Collins, Tourism Ireland, on day one of the Tourism Ireland sales mission in London (Ontario).
“We are delighted that so many key decision-makers from the group travel sector in Canada took the time to meet with our tourism partners from Ireland this week”, said Dana Welch, Tourism Ireland’s Manager Canada. “Travel agents and tour operators remain an important booking channel for Canadian holidaymakers – so, a key element of our annual programme of activity involves working closely with the travel trade, both online and offline.”
In 2018, we welcomed 244,000 Canadian visitors to the island of Ireland. Tourism Ireland is rolling out an extensive programme of promotions again in 2019, to build on that success.
Dana Welch continued: “We are undertaking an extensive and targeted programme of activity throughout 2019, to continue to grow Canadian visitor numbers to Cork and Ireland. Our sales blitz this week provides an excellent platform to kick-start our promotional effort for 2020. Our message here in Canada is that it has never been easier to get to Ireland, with more airline seats from more gateways than ever before.”