Tourism Ireland leads trade mission to Germany
31.01.2012
Tourism Ireland and 15 Irish tourism companies are participating in a three-city trade mission in Germany this week in an attempt to win a great share of the German holiday and business travel market.
The trade mission includes Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and Hamburg – each of which has direct air access to Ireland. One-to-one meetings, presentations and networking sessions will take place, involving nearly 250 top travel agents and tour operators. A key aim of the delegation will be to encourage those German travel professionals to include the island of Ireland in their holiday programmes for 2012 and beyond.
Tourism Ireland said that travel agents and tour operators continue to be the main booking channel for German holidaymakers, so a key element of the agency’s strategy is to work with the travel trade – both online and offline – in the market.
“Over half the German population takes at least one holiday abroad each year, making Germany the world’s largest outbound travel market,” said Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland.
“Germany is the third-largest source of visitors to the island of Ireland and Tourism Ireland has an exceptionally strong promotional programme in the pipeline for 2012 in Germany, to raise the profile of Ireland as a wonderful destination and emphasising a strong value message. Those Germans interested in taking a holiday which involves sightseeing and local culture remain our core target; Tourism Ireland is also targeting consumers who engage in outdoor activities while on holidays.”
Around 416,000 Germans visited the island of Ireland in 2011, an increase of 8pc on 2010. The average length of stay for German holidaymakers is 10 nights and they tend to travel to several different regions when they are here. Around 40pc of Germans return to Ireland for a second visit.