Ireland Home of Halloween campaign 2025

Halloween is a favourite calendar moment in many countries around the world, yet not everyone knows that it originated on the island of Ireland around 2,000 years ago in Celtic culture. Our 2025 ‘Home of Halloween’ campaign aimed to drive autumn visitation to the island of Ireland and deepen awareness of our unique and ancient connection to Halloween.

Our campaign involved a two-phase approach, with Derry Halloween and the Púca Festival serving as the flagship events. Phase one of the campaign went live in August to promote autumn trips and drive incremental bookings. It ran in 12 key tourism markets: GB, the United States, Canada, Australia Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, the Nordics, Austria and Switzerland. It included inspiring videos showcasing the magic of Ireland in autumn and the festivals to be enjoyed around the island, which created over 11 million opportunities to see (reach).

In addition, Tourism Ireland partnered with online travel platforms to promote autumn trips and drive incremental bookings; these partnerships delivered over €50 million from incremental booked trips to the island of Ireland.

Phase two of the campaign went live during the last week of October on video and social platforms, to raise awareness of the island of Ireland as the authentic home of Halloween, when relevance for the moment was high.

Our ‘Home of Halloween’ message was also communicated through publicity, social media, Ireland.com, email marketing and trade channels during September and October. Tourism Ireland, in conjunction with Fáilte Ireland and Tourism NI, invited 50 international media and content creators, with a reach of over 100 million, to experience the Púca Festival and Derry Halloween first hand; these included Lonely Planet, ITV and renowned travel broadcaster Gabe Saglie, who broadcast from both events across the United States on the CBS, CNN, FOX, ABC and NBC networks.

A new documentary titled Les mystères d'Halloween (meaning The Mysteries of Halloween), which was co-produced by Tourism Ireland, aired across Mainland Europe on the TV channel ARTE (as well as on its online platforms, including the streaming service ARTE.tv), bringing viewers through the history of Halloween in Ireland.

And, using our International Programming Ireland Fund, we co-produced a new Halloween documentary. A crew filmed at Derry Halloween 2025 for a 60-minute programme that will chart the evolution of the festival from mystical Samhain traditions to a global phenomenon. It is likely to air in 2026.

From Madrid to Milan to Sydney, Tourism Ireland teams brought the origins of Halloween to life to stimulate future travel.