Jump into Ireland in 2012

Tourism Ireland took to the stage in Toronto last night (April 26), entertaining a group of about 100 of its top travel agents with a theatrical tour de force that drove home the message that 2012 was the year for their clients to Jump Into Ireland and experience all the destination has to offer in terms of culture, heritage and cuisine. Leave it to the Irish to come up with a truly engaging way to provide travel agents with a whack of product knowledge, but they did, creating a play that followed a Canadian travel agent and his Irish companion as they jumped into Ireland to explore its many new and varied offerings. And as they made their tour, they encountered nine of Ireland’s key suppliers — Transat Holidays, Insight Vacations, Ireland’s Blue Book, Emerald Elite Group/Emerald Custom Tours, Causeway Coast and Glens Tourism, Edward Hotels, Railtours Ireland — First Class, the House of Waterford Crystal and the Guinness Storehouse — along the way. Naturally, each of those suppliers had a message for the agency audience. In her introduction to the evening’s festivities, Tourism Ireland’s Jayne Shackleford was clearly excited to officially launch the Jump into Ireland 2012 program in Canada and applauding retailers who were already selling Ireland and “doing it very well.” Shackleford observed that in 2011, Ireland saw an increase in Canadian visits of 8%, welcoming close to 100,000 Canadian visitors and she said that Tourism Ireland is hoping to surpass the 100,000 mark in 2012. To help agents to sell Ireland, the tourist board has launched a brand new, Canada-specific, online travel agent selling tool called Ireland HQ that’s more interactive and replaces the Shamrock Club program. As for the message to retailers, well, it’s pretty simply: make sure that 2012 is the year that you Jump Into Ireland. For more, go to http://www.tourismireland.com or visit http://discoverirelandblog.ca .