Outbound

Tourism Ireland works out new budget for India

Andrea Lopez - Mumbai

Jim Paul

Tourism Ireland, whose representative office has been in India for the past three years, is working on an improved budget to woo the Indian traveller. Speaking to Express TravelWorld at the Outbound Travel Roadshow, Jim Paul, director of new and developing markets said, "This is the first time that we have had such a large representation from different tourism sectors in Ireland. Our main purpose is to work more closely with retail agents and provide them with training so that they know what Ireland is all about before they can market the destination. India is becoming an important destination for us and our promotion budget here too has improved."

Roughly 10,000 Indians visited Ireland last year and the country is looking to retain the figures for the coming five years. Representatives from hotels, car rental companies and railway tours were present for the four-city roadshow in the country and registered a good response from agents. "Ireland was recently voted as the friendliest place in the world, it is a great accolade to acquire. Our focus this year will be to encourage participation form travel agents through workshops and training programs," concluded Paul.