04 Feb 2016

1 million ‘Aussies’ see Ireland ads

Tourism Ireland teams up with Etihad Airways for new outdoor campaign in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane

 Tourism Ireland’s latest promotion is under way in Australia right now – with some 1 million commuters seeing eye-catching billboard ads for Ireland in key locations in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Tourism Ireland has teamed up with Etihad Airlines for a joint campaign, highlighting Ireland’s Ancient East and the Wild Atlantic Way. The campaign aims to raise awareness of Ireland as a fantastic holiday destination for 2016 and to drive sales of Etihad flights to Dublin, via Abu Dhabi.

The campaign – which is running for the month of February – also includes email marketing to potential holidaymakers on the Etihad database. Ireland also features on the ‘early bird’ section of the Etihad website – reminding Australians why they should put the island of Ireland on their holiday ‘wish-list’ this year.  

In 2015, we welcomed about 207,600 visitors from Australia and New Zealand to Ireland, up +9% on 2014.

Sofia Hansson, Tourism Ireland’s Manager for Australia and New Zealand, said: “2015 was another record-breaking year for visitor numbers to Ireland from Australia and New Zealand. Tourism Ireland will roll out an extensive programme of promotional activity again this year – to keep the momentum going and continue to grow Australian visitor numbers to the island of Ireland. Co-operative campaigns with key partners – like this one with Etihad – are an important element of that programme, to boost travel to the island of Ireland in 2016.”


 

Notes To Editors

• Tourism Ireland is the organisation responsible for promoting the island of Ireland overseas as a leading holiday destination.
• Tourism is the island of Ireland’s largest indigenous industry; responsible for in excess of 4% of GNP in the Republic of Ireland and employing approximately 220,000 people.
• In 2015, we welcomed approximately 9.3 million overseas visitors to the island of Ireland, delivering revenue of about €4.7 billion.
• Tourism Ireland’s international website is www.ireland.com, 29 market sites available in ten language versions around the world, which attracted about 16.5 million visitors in 2015.