Rock Of Cashel Features In New Tourism Promotion In Britain

Tourism Ireland has teamed up with Stena Line to promote holidays and short breaks in Ireland to British holidaymakers this autumn. A joint, month-long campaign – targeting our important ‘culturally curious’ audience – is now under way.

The campaign will reach about 20 million potential British holidaymakers, inviting people to “Drive to Ireland and bring your senses to life”. It will highlight some of the many great places to discover here, including the Rock of Cashel and Ireland’s Ancient East.

Ad running in national and regional British newspapers, as part of the Tourism Ireland-Stena Line campaign.

The campaign includes:

• ads in national British newspapers, including titles like Metro Scotland, Manchester Evening News, Liverpool Echo, The Sunday Times and the Daily Mail, as well as in regional newspapers –  which will be seen by an estimated 6.3 million readers;
• radio ads on Smooth Radio, Classic FM and Heart Radio – which will reach an estimated 8.3 million listeners;
• a competition on Classic FM in Scotland and North West England, encouraging listeners to visit a specially-created section about Ireland on classicfm.comand offering listeners the chance to win a fantastic trip to Ireland with Stena Line;
• online ads on popular sites, as well as ads on Facebook.

Julie Wakley, Tourism Ireland’s Deputy Head of Britain, said: “We are delighted to partner with Stena Line this autumn, to encourage holidaymakers around Britain to take their car to discover the island of Ireland. We know that people who bring their car here on holidays tend to stay longer, spend more and are more likely to visit more than one region.”

Great Britain is an extremely important market for tourism to the island of Ireland and there has been very good growth in British visitor numbers so far again this year, with the most recent CSO figures for January to July showing a +16% increase. Tourism Ireland’s joint campaign with Stena Line is just one element of the organisation’s busy autumn promotional programme, which is in full swing right now. The programme aims to boost late-season travel to Ireland – from Britain and elsewhere around the world. The September to December period usually yields as much as 30% of Ireland’s overseas tourism business.