Tourism Ireland Announces ‘Global Grenning’ Lineup for ST Patrick’s DayY 2014

 UNESCO World Heritage Site Petra, the Holmenkollen ski jump and Sleeping Beauty’s Castle at Disneyland® Paris join Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening for St Patrick’s 2014 –

Tourism Ireland has lined up a fairytale ending for St Patrick’s Day this   year, as Sleeping Beauty’s Castle at Disneyland® Paris, the Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Petra in Jordan will join its Global Greening 2014. And, in another major coup for Irish tourism, the Pyramids of Giza are set to go green once again this year around 17 March. The annual initiative, which sees a host of major landmarks and iconic sites around the world turn green for St Patrick’s Day has grown from strength to strength, with a number of new landmarks signing up to take part this year.

Other new sites going green for the first time in 2014 include Canada’s famous ski resort of Whistler; one of the highest waterfalls in Europe, the Rhine Falls near Zurich; the distinctive Evoluon Eindhoven in the Netherlands; a host of sites in Chicago – including Soldier Field stadium (home to the famous Chicago Bears team), the Trump International Hotel & Tower and the Wrigley Building and Millennium Park; four iconic skyscrapers in Philadelphia – including the second, third and fourth-highest buildings in the city; Kaprun Castle in Zell-am-See and the Skiwelt Söll (ski resort), both in Austria; the Petřín Lookout Tower in Prague; the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai, India; the new SSE Hydro in Glasgow; and Hannover Town Hall.

Tourism Ireland today announced details of some of the famous attractions and sites around the world which will go green to mark St Patrick’s Day this year, kicking off the organisation’s major first half promotional drive to grow overseas tourism in 2014. The new sites will join some ‘old favourites’ which have gone green in previous years – including the Pyramids in Egypt, the ‘Welcome’ sign in Las Vegas, the Sydney Opera House, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the London Eye, Table Mountain in South Africa, Niagara Falls, the Empire State Building in New York, the Prince’s Palace in Monaco, the Allianz Arena and Odeonsplatz in Munich, the Sky Tower in New Zealand and the Cibeles palace and fountain in Madrid.

Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: “This is the fifth year of Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening initiative and each year I am delighted to see even more well-known attractions and landmark sites wishing to get involved and join our St Patrick’s celebrations. The addition of the Treasury in the ancient city of Petra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a major success; and in this year of the Winter Olympics, it’s also very fitting that we welcome the Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo, Whistler in Canada and the Skiwelt Söll in Austria to our annual Global Greening. The addition of the Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland® Paris is also noteworthy as it is the first time we have aligned with an iconic consumer brand, which will help bring our Global Greening to new audiences. 

“The success of our Global Greening initiative is due in no small part to the great work that has been carried out across the world by Irish people down the generations and, in particular, to the great support we’ve received from Irish Ambassadors and the Diaspora. The eagerness to take part underlines the strength of the deep spiritual connection that people everywhere feel to Ireland. Over 70 million people around the world claim links to the island of Ireland and St Patrick’s Day is a truly unique opportunity to reconnect them with their heritage.

“People across the world instantly identify St Patrick’s Day with the island of Ireland and that heightened profile allows us to put the Ireland holiday experience in the spotlight – from Sydney to London and Cairo to Las Vegas. Our St Patrick’s programme will span Great Britain, Mainland Europe, North America, Australia, as well as developing markets such as China, India and South Africa. There will be saturation coverage of the island of Ireland across the airwaves, in newspapers and digital media – and that’s an invaluable boost for our overall tourism marketing drive this year.”

In Great Britain, major sites including the London Eye and the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow, affectionately known as ‘the Armadillo’, will go green once again this year for St Patrick’s Day. Other buildings set to go green include Manchester Town Hall and the new SSE Hydro in Glasgow.

In North America, Chicago’s ‘greening’ will take place right throughout the week leading up to St Patrick’s Day. It will include the ‘greening’ of Soldier Field stadium, home to the famous Chicago Bears football team, as well as special daily themes – including “Taking it to the Streets”, when State Street and Congress Parkway will turn green; “Eating Green Around the City”; “Broadway in Chicago Goes Green”; “Northside Goes Green”; and “Tall Buildings and Chicago Icons”, which will see the Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower, Trump International Hotel & Tower, the Wrigley Building, Chicago Board of Trade, Millennium Park, Jay Pritzker Pavilion and the 311 South Wacker Drive “White Castle Building” all turn green for a day.

And the city of Philadelphia is also joining Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening for the first time ever – with four iconic skyscrapers (including the second, third and fourth-highest buildings in the city) set to go green, on 15-17 March. They are the Cira Center, One Liberty Place, Two Liberty Place and BNY Mellon Center. Other famous sites in North America set to go green include Niagara Falls (on both the Canadian and US sides); the ‘Welcome’ sign in Las Vegas; the Empire State Building in New York; the City Hall in both San Francisco and Toronto; and Cabot Tower on Signal Hill, St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Tourism Ireland has a host of consumer and travel trade promotions taking place around St Patrick’s Day, and throughout the spring, across North America.

In Europe – also for the first time ever – Tourism Ireland has arranged for the Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo and the Skiwelt Söll in Austria to go green on 17 March. Other new ‘greenings’ for 2014 include the distinctive Evoluon Eindhoven (in time to celebrate the new Ryanair flight from Eindhoven to Knock); the Rhinefalls in Switzerland; Kaprun Castle in Zell-am-See, Austria; the Petřín Lookout Tower in Prague; and Hannover Town Hall (to celebrate the new Aer Lingus flight from Hannover to Dublin). These are in addition to other well-known sites which will take on a green hue, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Burgtheater (City Hall) in Vienna, the TV Tower in Berlin, the Prince’s Palace of Monaco and the Cibeles fountain in Madrid (where the fans of football club Real Madrid celebrate their triumphs in La Liga or the Champions League). Belgium will also dress its famous Manneken Pis statue in Irish costume; and Tourism Ireland is inviting Irish pubs around Germany to ‘green’ their windows and shop-fronts around 17 March. In Italy, seven Virgin Active fitness centres in Milan plan to ‘green’ their spinning classes on 17 March, with the instructors and gym-goers all wearing green gear on the day and pedalling along to Irish music (in keeping with the Giro and cycling theme of our promotions in Italy this spring).

International journalists – representing top media outlets from around the globe – will visit Ireland, taking in the Dublin St Patrick’s Day parade during their time here. And Tourism Ireland will also exploit the profile of St Patrick’s Day with media worldwide – sending images, video footage and news about Ireland to news desks around the world, as well as to its database of about 20,000 influential travel and lifestyle media contacts.

MAJOR LANDMARKS AND ICONIC SITES AROUND THE WORLD JOINING

TOURISM IRELAND’S ‘GLOBAL GREENING’ FOR ST PATRICK’S DAY 2014

Note: first time ‘greenings’ marked *

Great Britain

• London Eye
• Clyde Auditorium, affectionately known as the ‘Armadillo’ (SECC), Glasgow
• Manchester Town Hall
• The SSE Hydro, Glasgow *

North America

– United States

• Niagara Falls (on both the Canadian and US sides)
• ‘Welcome’ sign, Las Vegas
  • Empire State Building, New York
  • City Hall, San Francisco
  • Chicago River
  • Chicago MYSTERY GREENING on 17 March *
  • Chicago “Taking it to the Streets” on 10 March

–       Congress Parkway *

–       State Street *

• Chicago “Tall Buildings and Chicago Icons” on 11 March

–       311 South Wacker Drive “White Castle Building” (65-storey skyscraper) *

–       Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower *

–       Chicago Board of Trade *

–       Millennium Park /Jay Pritzker Pavilion *

–       Soldier Field stadium (home to the famous Chicago Bears team) *

–       Trump International Hotel & Tower *

–       Wrigley Building *

• Chicago “Eating Green Around the City” on 12 March *
• Chicago “Broadway in Chicago Goes Green” on 13 March

–       Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University *

–       Bank of America Theatre *

–       Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place *

–       Cadillac Palace Theatre *

–       Oriental Theatre *

• Chicago “Northside Goes Green” on 14 March

–       State Bank of Countryside *

• Four iconic buildings in Philadelphia including

–       Cira Center (29-storey skyscraper in west Philadelphia)

–       One Liberty Place (61-storey skyscraper) and Two Liberty Place (58-storey skyscraper)

–       BNY Mellon Center (54-storey skyscraper)

– Canada

• Whistler, Canada’s premier ski destination in British Columbia
• City Hall, Toronto
• Cabot Tower on Signal Hill, St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador *
• Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa

Mainland Europe

– Austria

• Burgtheater (City Hall), Vienna
• Kaprun Castle, Zell-am-See region *
• Skiwelt Söll (ski resort) *

– Benelux

• Manneken Pis statue, Belgium (“dressed” in Irish costume)

– Czech Republic

• Petřín Lookout Tower, Prague *
• City Hall Viewing Tower, Ostrava *

– France

• Sleeping Beauty’s castle at Disneyland® Paris *

– Germany

• TV tower in Berlin’s Alexanderplatz
• Allianz Arena, Munich
• ‘Lighthouse’ building in Düsseldorf
• Odeonsplatz in central Munich
• Neumünster church (built over the tomb of St Kilian), Würzburg
• Town Hall, Würzburg
• Olympic Tower in the Olympic Park, Munich *
• Town Hall, Hannover *
• Irish consulate, Munich *
• Aer Lingus check-in desks at Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg and Munich Airports *
• AVIAREPS building, Frankfurt *
• Irish pubs network

– Italy

• Leaning Tower of Pisa
• Porta San Giacomo, Bergamo (the imposing entrance to the Città Alta) *
• Fountain of Piazza dei Martiri, Reggio Emilia *
• Virgin Fitness Centres in Milan will green their spinning classes *

– Monaco

• Prince’s Palace

– the Netherlands

• Evoluon Eindhoven *

– Norway

• Holmenkollen ski jump, Oslo *

– Spain

• Cibeles Fountain and Palace, Madrid
• Palacio de Communiaciones, Madrid

– Switzerland

• Rhine Falls, near Zurich (one of the highest waterfalls in Europe) *

Australia and New Zealand

• Sydney Opera House
• Sky Tower, Auckland, New Zealand

Emerging markets

• The Treasury in the ancient city of Petra, Jordan *
• Pyramids and the Sphinx, Egypt
• Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai, India *
• Table Mountain, South Africa