American journalists find the’Write’ stuff in Offaly

Six leading American journalists visited Clonmacnoise, as guests of Tourism Ireland and Aer Lingus. They flew here on the Aer Lingus service from San Francisco to Dublin, which was relaunched earlier this year.

Representing various online and print publications, the journalists were here to experience some of the many things to see and do on a holiday in Ireland – and then write about them when they return home, in turn inspiring their readers to come and experience the destination for themselves. Given that the journalists all represented media outlets from the west coast of the United States, this was also an excellent opportunity to highlight the Aer Lingus service and the excellent connectivity between San Francisco and Ireland. Their itinerary was designed by Fáilte Ireland.

American journalists with Ellen Redmond, Fáilte Ireland (second right). They were here as guests of Tourism Ireland and Aer Lingus.

Alison Metcalfe, Tourism Ireland’s head of North America, said: “Tourism Ireland was delighted to invite this group of influential journalists to visit Offaly and Ireland. Fact-finding visits like this are an important element of our annual publicity and PR programme in the United States; they are a really effective way for us to get positive exposure for Ireland through the media, helping us to showcase the superb tourism experience on offer here to hundreds of thousands of potential holidaymakers.”

Aer Lingus currently operates five flights a week between San Francisco and Dublin; this will become a daily service in 2015. Alison Metcalfe continued: “Aer Lingus’ expansion on its transatlantic services to Ireland earlier this year was really good news for tourism to the island of Ireland and has certainly helped boost visitor numbers during the peak summer months. We have been working closely with Aer Lingus and Dublin Airport, to maximise the promotion of this route and to help drive demand for the flights. As an island destination, the importance of convenient, direct flights to Ireland cannot be overstated; we know there is a proven correlation between access to Ireland and growth in visitor numbers.”

According to the latest CSO figures, visitor numbers from North America grew by +18% for the peak summer months of June to August this year.