Reema Lokesh – Mumbai
Ireland as a destination has witnessed a positive upswing in tourist arrivals in 2015 from the global market including India. From visitor arrivals, to revenue spend the growth story has been rather bullish. India though an emerging market is a priority market in the Asian region. The growth story for Tourism Ireland receives further impetus due to the increase in flight connectivity through the Middle East carriers (28 flights per week from India) the British Irish Visa Scheme (BIVS) for the India market and the branding and focused promotions in the India market to reiterate Ireland’s position as a niche tourism experience.
Tourism Ireland, has a clear plan in place to focus on 3 market segments, 1) Culturally Curious, 2) Social Energisers and 3) Great Escapers. Niall Gibbons, chief executive, Tourism Ireland, on his recent visit to India, sounded bullish about the India market as well as its performance on a global platform. 2015 proved to be an encouraging year for the tourism board as both the revenue from tourism and visitor arrivals witnessed an upswing. Gibbons attributes the success to focused and targeted brand campaigns and promotions, the robust presence on social media, as it is Number 3 on Facebook, No. 2 on You Tube and Twitter respectively. Speaking on the India market, Gibbons says, “India is a very important market for us. From education connections, to trade relations, the Indo-Irish relationship in both tourism and trade is highly encouraging.”
He further added that the tourism board has also worked out attractive schemes and tax friendly policies for film producers to continue their faith in Ireland as a attractive film shooting destination. Their focus is continue to work with the Indian trade penetrating into newer markets and continue with their education and training programmes and sales missions as that works well for the destination.