A group of leading American travel professionals has been visiting Roscommon with Europe Express – a US tour operator which specialises in high quality, affordable travel and which has been selling Ireland since its establishment in 1990.
They were here as guests of Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland.
Picture Credit: Brian Duignan
As well as attending a B2B networking dinner in Dublin, where they met with a number of Irish tourism companies, the visiting group also undertook an action-packed fact-finding visit – taking in Dublin, Roscommon, Sligo, Donegal and Northern Ireland.
One of the highlights of their time here was a visit to Strokestown Park and the Irish National Famine Museum – where they enjoyed some light refreshments, followed by a guided tour.
Alison Metcalfe, Tourism Ireland’s Head of North America, said: “Tourism Ireland was delighted to invite Europe Express and its top agency representatives to visit the island of Ireland. We believe it is extremely important for travel decision-makers such as these to experience for themselves the high standard of our tourism offering and the many things to see and do here, so they are better equipped to advise their clients on future travel plans.”
2016 looks set to be another excellent year for Irish tourism from North America, with the latest CSO figures showing almost 1.4 million arrivals from the United States and Canada during the January to September period this year – an increase of +15.4% when compared to the same nine-month period in 2015.