10 March 2023
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
Cork is ‘wunderbar’ in Berlin
Tourism Ireland and partners attend world’s largest travel trade fair
The Celtic Ross Hotel of Rosscarbery has joined Tourism Ireland at ITB Berlin – the largest travel trade fair in the world – this week, to grow Ireland’s share of the important German travel market.
Back as an in-person event for the first time since 2019, this year’s ITB (Internationale Tourismus-Börse) is for travel trade visitors only. Before the pandemic, ITB Berlin attracted around 113,500 trade visitors – including leading tour operators, travel agents, airlines, travel media and influencers – not just from Germany but from all over the world.
Tourism Ireland is hosting 30 tourism companies from around Ireland on its stand – including hotels, visitor attractions, air and sea carriers, DMCs (destination management companies), as well as outdoor adventure providers. The three-day event provides a valuable opportunity for networking, negotiating and exchanging vital contracts with the influential German and international tour operators and travel agents in attendance.
On the first evening of the show (7 March), Tourism Ireland unveiled its new ‘Fill Your Heart with Ireland’ (in German ‘Irland. Lässt dein Herz höher schlagen’) campaign to around 100 key German travel trade and media contacts at a special Irish evening in central Berlin. The campaign will go live next week and will run on multiple channels.
Speaking at ITB Berlin, Nadine Lehmann, Tourism Ireland’s Manager Germany, said: “We are delighted to be back in person at ITB Berlin this week, for the first time since 2019. The large representation of our tourism partners from Ireland is extremely welcome – and essential in the highly competitive global marketplace. ITB provides an excellent opportunity to spread the word about the many great things to see and do right around the island of Ireland and to grow our share of the important German travel market.
“We are excited to unveil our new ‘Fill your heart with Ireland’ campaign, which will highlight Ireland’s rich and authentic experiences, breath-taking landscapes and, in particular, our warm welcome.”
Germany is the third-largest source of visitors to the island of Ireland and one of the largest outbound travel markets in the world. In 2019, we welcomed 749,000 German visitors to the island of Ireland, who spent €459 million during their time here.
PIC SHOWS: Maxine Christy, Celtic Ross Hotel; and Kristina Gauges, Tourism Ireland, at ITB Berlin.
