Tourism Drive Continues as Renowned Travel Writers Conference Comes to Dublin

The tourism drive in the US market continues, as top American travel writers arrived in Dublin to take part in the renowned Travel Classics writers’ conference this weekend.  The conference will bring vast exposure of all that Ireland has to offer for holidaymakers in our second largest tourism market.

The conference, which takes place at the Conrad Hotel, brings together celebrated editors from a wide range of high profile magazines including National Geographic Traveler, Travel and Leisure, Saveur, Islands magazine, AARP and ForbesLife, all of which reach hundreds of thousands of readers across North America as well as globally.  The keynote speaker at the conference is Pauline Frommer, creator of the Pauline Frommer travel guidebooks. 

Speaking on the opening day of the conference, Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “The last couple of months have been an excellent time for promoting the island of Ireland in the US market.  In May, we welcomed President Obama; and Rory McIlroy’s superb US Open win last weekend has got American eyes turned to Ireland once again.  We are delighted to welcome some of the most influential and prominent travel journalists from the US, to show them at first-hand what makes the island of Ireland unique. 

“Figures for the first quarter of 2011 showed growth of almost +12% in visitors from the United States, an encouraging basis on which we will build.   North America is an extremely important market for tourism to the island of Ireland and Tourism Ireland is focused on returning the market to growth in 2011.”

This is the 18th consecutive year of the conference, regarded by many as the world’s foremost networking event for travel writers and editors.  It takes place over four days, during which 35 US freelance travel writers have the opportunity to hold individual meetings with 15 assigning editors from the top travel, epicurean, sports and lifestyle publications in the US.

As well as enjoying all that Dublin has to offer, delegates also have an opportunity to visit other parts of the island including Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Northern Ireland.  Arranged in conjunction with Fáilte Ireland, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Dublin Tourism, the conference and the pre and post trips will give the delegates a fantastic opportunity to collect many interesting stories, inspiring numerous new works and articles and leading to huge exposure in the top tier travel publications around the US.