Spotlight on Ballyfin and Co Laois in India
Pictured at Destination Britain & Ireland (DEBI), a B2B travel trade event which took place recently in Bangalore in India is Martina Yearsley of Ballyfin Demesne (right), with Susan Li, Tourism Ireland China.
DEBI, which was organised by VisitBritain in association with Tourism Ireland, is an important travel trade event for the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) region. During the three-day event, which included meetings, seminars, networking events and group discussions, the participating tourism operators who travelled from around the island of Ireland met with over 200 influential travel agents and tour operators from 15 different countries – including Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Japan, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates – to showcase their tourism offering and to encourage those travel specialists to feature Ireland in future holiday programmes.
Simon Gregory, Tourism Ireland’s Director of Markets, said: “With the Government’s recently announced tourist visa waiver scheme making it easier for tourists from emerging economies to visit Ireland, the time is right to step up promotion in markets in the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia-Pacific region offers exciting possibilities for tourism to the island of Ireland in the medium- to long-term. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has forecast that the Asia-Pacific region will be one of the fastest-growing regions for outbound travel in the next ten years.
“While we are working hard in the traditional markets of Great Britain and the US, Tourism Ireland is also very active right now in markets like India to raise the profile of the island of Ireland as a premier holiday and business tourism destination. Promotions like DEBI are an invaluable part of that marketing effort”.