Shane Lowry Tees Off for Tourism in Britain

Irish golf and tourism operators attending Golf Live in Wales got a great boost when Offaly native and former Irish Open Champion Shane Lowry stopped off at the Tourism Ireland stand, to lend his support for Tourism Ireland’s 2013 marketing drive and to do his bit to grow golf tourism this year.

About 13,000 British golf fans visited the show, which provided an excellent platform to highlight our world-class golf. Golf is a major focus for Tourism Ireland in Great Britain and in other key markets around the world, and the organisation has a busy programme of

(centre), with Áine Mangan, Dublin East Coast Golf Alliance; and David Boyce, Tourism Ireland (right), at Golf Live.

promotions under way to grow the number of golf tourists in 2013 and beyond. Tourism Ireland is working hard to drive home the message that a golfing holiday here is about much more than a round of 18 holes – the combination of Ireland’s world-class golf and our unique brand of hospitality plays a key role in attracting golfers to come here.

David Boyce, Tourism Ireland’s head of business and sports tourism, said: “The island of Ireland boasts some fantastic golf courses and our presence at the Golf Live event was an excellent opportunity for Tourism Ireland, together with our partners, to showcase that superb golf product. We are undertaking a busy golf promotional programme this year, which includes capitalising on the success of our major golf champions as ambassadors for the island of Ireland. Great Britain is a very important market for golf, and for tourism to the island of Ireland in general, and we in Tourism Ireland are pulling out all the stops to win business and to keep the island of Ireland ‘top of mind’ with the GB consumer this year.”

Tourism Ireland and golf partners from around the island of Ireland will also have a presence at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth this week.