Tourism Breaking News
Attended by a record number of agents from the GCC, Tourism Ireland hosted their second webinar with the spokesperson from Tourism Ireland for GCC and 4 other partners. Siobhan Naughton, Marketing and Trade Executive, Tourism Ireland shared an overview about the destination, the flight access and the latest updates about the covid centric practices and safety charters which still includes the quarantine period of 14 days. She mentioned about the British Irish Visa Scheme; the visa requirements for other GCC countries and shared that they were very busy preparing for visitors to travel to Ireland soon.
She then opened the floor for industry speakers starting off with Byrne Learat – Founder & CEO – Adams and Butler (DMC). She gave an in depth presentation on the various programmes and itineraries that can be tailor made for the guests. She shared that they remit part of the commission to the agents that book the clients especially at this period of time so that it will help both parties to continue in their business. She mentioned that Ireland is known as ‘island of horses’ and as DMC they do prepare itineraries to accommodate the requests of the clients. She stated that especially travellers from the kingdom of Saudi Arabia prefer to self -drive and discover the destination, hence this is the ideal destination.
Avril Collins – Marketing Manager – Ireland’s Blue Bookwhich includes a romantic collection of over 50 Irish Country House Hotels, Manor Houses, Castles and Restaurants shared many interesting details about the different properties under their belt. From five star elegant properties to Michelin star restaurants that can really add a lot more to the itinerary of the discerning traveller. So she gave a really great update about the stunning properties in Ireland.
The next in line was Victoria Loy, Business and Leisure Markets Manager – Titanic Belfast, which is one of the most looked forward to experiences by people from across the world; the historical voyage. The largest ship has so many stories that has been made in to several movies and Loy walked the audience through each one of the galleries and explained in detail what each experience entails. Apart from the guided discovery tour in the Titanic they also have another attraction, the SS Nomadic which also has a story to be unraveled.
Joe Shannon – CEO – G Golf Ireland took us on a very exciting golfing trip for VIPs. He shared that they have the most number of golf courses almost 400 for a population of 5 million people and 11 of the courses are among the top 100 golf courses in the world list. He mentioned the tailor made services offered by them for the golf enthusiasts and how they can really enjoy and play in any of the courses that they prefer. He mentioned that all procedures are been taken to welcome international tourists next year and they are hopeful 2021 will be a much better year.
