"Tourism Ireland has launched an ambitious $500,000 short-term marketing campaign in the U.S. aimed at reviving dwindling interest in the Irish holiday market amongst North American travelers," the Cork-published Irish Examiner reported.
The campaign, which is running across television, online and direct marketing avenues, marks the start of a focused promotional drive for Tourism Ireland, the paper reported.
Tourism Ireland is targeting a minimum of two percent growth in visitor numbers from North America to Ireland in 2010. The targeted ad campaign, according to the report, will be seen by viewers of CNN, Fox News, the Golf Channel, Discovery Science, the Travel Channel and BBC America among others. Publications such as the New York Times and the Boston Globe are also being targeted.
Beyond the short term advertising blitz, overall promotional activity planned for 2010 will be promoting Ireland in a number of ways. Among them, The Examiner stated, will be a "recovery campaign aimed at reviving the idea of visiting Ireland in key cities in the U.S., co-operative marketing campaigns carried out in conjunction with tour operators and major transatlantic airlines, and a specific "micro-campaign" focusing on visiting Northern Ireland. This latter effort will focus on the southern states include a campaign targeting the Scots-Irish community.
Specific Northern Ireland promotional events will include a major exhibition in New York focusing on the story of the Titanic and the city where the liner was built.
"North America is a very important market for tourism to the island of Ireland. Despite the anticipated decline in access from North America to the island of Ireland and Europe in general (this) year, Tourism Ireland will work closely with the tourism industry to target our best prospects and deliver a two percent plus growth in visitors," said Tourism Ireland chief executive, Niall Gibbons.
