The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, will travel to the US today in an attempt to boost the numbers of American tourists coming to Ireland.
During the six-day visit, the Minister will meet business leaders and tourism operators and take every available media opportunity to promote Ireland. A spokesman for the Minister said now is the time to aggressively market in the US to attract visitors for the end of the summer and later this year. The marketing tour is being taken in conjunction with Tourism Ireland and will begin on the west coast, in Los Angeles. The Minister will then continue to San Francisco before travelling on to New York.
Mr O'Donoghue will be in New York for the arrival of the Jeanie Johnson replica Famine ship which will be sailing up the Hudson River on July 3rd in preparation for the Independence Day celebrations the following day. The US is Ireland's second largest tourism market after Britain, with 840,000 visitors last year generating €710 million. US visitors spent nearly three times more on a daily basis when on holiday here than their British counterparts. Visitors from the US also spent on average 10 to 11 nights here, whereas British tourists stayed five or six nights.
"The Minister thought the time was right. The threat from SARS is receding, the Iraqi war is over and there are signs that the US economy is moving out of recession. That will boost consumer confidence and lead to better trading conditions," the spokesman said.