Hoteliers Welcome Ireland Focus for St Patrick’s Day Around The World

5 March 2010

The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) today strongly welcomed the Government’s continued commitment to maximise St Patrick’s Day as a platform internationally to highlight Ireland as a destination to visit.  It states that the Ministerial envoys who will visit a host of countries throughout the world promoting Ireland  at the highest state levels will complement the marketing campaigns being taken on the ground in key locations.  The IHF maintains that this activity in tandem with Tourism Ireland’s intensive St Patrick’s Day promotional campaigns which include the ‘greening’ of iconic buildings and attractions around the world, offers an immense promotional platform to reach millions of people and remind them of Ireland’s unique offering and characteristics.

According to the newly elected IHF President Paul Gallagher, it is a unique opportunity in the annual calendar for the world’s attention to focus on Ireland and it needs to be leveraged to its maximum effect.  New York, Washington, Chicago, California, China, Germany, Russia, India, Italy, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, New Zealand and France– are just some of the places that will be highlighting St Patrick’s Day this year.

“Once a year we have this chance to promote Ireland as a business and tourism destination to the whole world and the Government must be acknowledged for continuing to see the immense value this platform provides Ireland – members of the Irish cabinet meeting the highest state leaders across the world during the St Patrick’s Day programme generates massive publicity for our country that you simply couldn’t buy,” says Mr Gallagher.  “We all know the tough times in which we are living and the need to ensure that value is extracted from all State spend – we welcome the fact that An Taoiseach in his decision to go ahead with these promotional trips, recognizes the value of the activity and the return which this investment will bring to the county."

Mr Gallagher stated that Tourism Ireland’s campaign which includes the Sydney Opera House, the London Eye, the Empire State Building and the CN Tower in Toronto, among others, turning green in honour of St Patrick’s Day is a high impact and creative tool in its marketing efforts.

“It is fantastic that such iconic buildings have agreement to allow Ireland to turn them “green” and it must be a first for any country in the world. It does reflect the goodwill towards our country and destination and clearly illustrates the goodwill that the Ireland brand generates across the world. We can expect saturation media coverage across the world about Ireland on St Patrick’s Day all with the underlying message that there has never been a better time to visit the island of Ireland,” Mr Gallagher concludes.

ENDS

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