Ciaran Reidy and Biddy Hughes, both of The Grace at Westport Estate, pictured with David Wood, Tourism Ireland, at World Travel Market in London.
Tourism Ireland, together with around 75 tourism businesses from across Ireland – including The Grace at Westport Estate – is mounting a significant presence at World Travel Market (WTM) in London this week.
WTM is the largest B2B event in the global travel and tourism calendar and heralds the beginning of Ireland’s promotional drive overseas for 2025.
Around 3,000 commercial meetings will be conducted on the Ireland stand, delivering overseas tourism business for Ireland worth millions of euro.
The tourism businesses from Ireland – from diverse hotels, whiskey distillery experiences and activity providers to visitor attractions and hidden gems of heritage – will engage in meetings with British and international tour operators to negotiate and exchange vital contracts for 2025 and beyond, and ultimately to bring valuable tourists to Ireland.
Knowing that additional hotel space has been a big ask by international tour operators, Tourism Ireland will showcase diverse hotel groups at this year’s World Travel Market, with 2-3% more rooms available this year.
Alice Mansergh, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “Our presence at World Travel Market is extremely important to kick-start our promotional drive overseas for the year ahead. We are delighted to have around 75 tourism companies from across Ireland joining us at this year’s WTM, with an estimated 3,000 commercial meetings with international tour operators set to take place.
“We facilitate connections between the world’s leading tour operators and local tourism businesses across Ireland, helping to connect overseas visitors with fantastic experiences. We are targeting visitors who do more, see more, enjoy more – and therefore spend more – during their time in Ireland, to help tourism businesses across our island thrive.”
With scenery being a major draw for overseas visitors, the Ireland stand at this year’s World Travel Market include a spectacular installation featuring flora and other materials related to Ireland and consists entirely of Irish planting (gorse, heathers, etc). The installation is designed by Worm, a floral design studio in East London which is owned by two Irish women.
Tourism Ireland’s message at WTM is that Ireland has so much to offer across regions and seasons. The organisation’s aim is to generate demand and target international visitors who do more, see more, enjoy more – and spend more – during their time in Ireland to help tourism businesses thrive.