Tourism Ireland

Tourism Ireland
Public Body overview
Formed1999
JurisdictionNorthern Ireland and Republic of Ireland
HeadquartersDublin, Republic of Ireland & Coleraine, Northern Ireland
Public Body executive
  • Niall Gibbons (CEO)
Websitewww.tourismireland.com

Tourism Ireland (Irish: Turasóireacht Éireann; Ulster-Scots: Tourism Airlan[1] or Reengin Airlann)[2] is the marketing body responsible for marketing the island of Ireland overseas. Tourism Ireland was established as one of "six areas of co-operation" under the framework of the 1998 Belfast Agreement and became operational in January 2002.[3]

Tourism Ireland operates under the auspices of the North/South Ministerial Council through the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media in the Republic of Ireland.

Tourism Ireland’s Board of Directors is appointed by the North South Ministerial Council and represents tourism industry interests on the island of Ireland. The current Directors' terms expire in December 2021.

Niall Gibbons was appointed as the second Chief Executive of the organisation, replacing the founding CEO Paul O'Toole, in June 2009.[4] The remaining members of the senior management are Siobhan McManamy who is Director of Markets, Mark Henry who is Central Marketing Director, and Shane Clarke who is Director of Corporate Services.[5]

Tourism Ireland's headquarters are located in Dublin and Coleraine, and also has 15 offices across Europe, North America, the Middle East, China and Australia, as well as having representatives in India and New Zealand.[6] The island of Ireland (which includes both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland) received a record 11.3 million visitors during 2019.[7] Approximately 40% of visitors come from Great Britain, 18% from North America and 35% from Mainland Europe.[8][9]

Online

Tourism Ireland maintains a corporate domain name, tourismireland.com, providing business guidance, advocacy and support to tourism companies in Ireland.

In 2012, it acquired the domain name ireland.com from The Irish Times, for €495,000.[10] The newspaper focused on its existing (established in 2008) irishtimes.com domain name thereafter, while Tourism Ireland setup ireland.com as its consumer website, providing direct contact for tourists looking to visit Ireland.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ Tourism Ireland Corporate Plan
  2. ^ 2008 corporate plan in Ulster-Scots Archived 2012-05-10 at the Wayback Machine Tourism Ireland.
  3. ^ "À propos de Tourism Ireland". Ireland.com (in French).
  4. ^ "Niall Gibbons appointed new Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland". IrishCentral.com. 11 June 2009. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Tourism Ireland Senior Management Team". Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Marketing". www.tourismireland.com.
  7. ^ "Island of Ireland 2019 Facts & Figures" (PDF). Tourism Ireland. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  8. ^ Tourism numbers and earnings hit new records in 2015
  9. ^ Ireland Tours
  10. ^ a b Croffey, Amy (15 October 2012). "Tourism Ireland buys 'Ireland.com' URL from The Irish Times". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 29 May 2024. Retrieved 8 September 2024.


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