Donegal was well represented on a delegation of hospitality companies targeting German tour operators recently in Offenbach.
Thirty Irish tourism companies – including the Nesbitt Arms Hotel in Ardara and the Abbey and Central Hotels in Donegal Town – travelled to Offenbach, near Frankfurt – to take part in a business workshop and networking event with leading German tour operators.
The event was organised by Tourism Ireland, to continue to grow visitor numbers from Germany, our third-largest tourism market, in 2019 and beyond.
The delegation from Ireland – which included hotels and B&Bs, visitor attractions, ferry companies and destination management companies – met with German, Swiss and Austrian tour operators in a bid to convince the influential travel professionals in attendance to include the island of Ireland in their holiday programmes for 2019.
Given that travel agents and tour operators continue to be an important booking channel for German holidaymakers, a key element of Tourism Ireland’s strategy is to work closely with the travel trade – both online and offline – in Germany.
Zoë Redmond, Tourism Ireland’s Manager for Central Europe, said: “Germany is our third-largest source of visitors, with the latest CSO figures showing growth of +21% for January to August. Right now, we are planning another extensive programme of promotions for 2019, to continue to build on this year’s success.
“Our workshop in Offenbach this week provided an excellent platform to kick-start our promotional effort for next year and to highlight the many things to see and do on a holiday in Ireland to influential German, Swiss and Austrian tour operators.”