Monday, November 03 14:16:46

70 Irish tourism businesses together with Tourism Ireland and Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Michael Ring are in London today at the world's largest travel fair.

Their presence at the World Travel Market (WTM) in London today heralds the beginning of the promotional drive overseas for the 2015 season.

Now in its 35th year, World Travel Market is the largest B2B event in the global travel and tourism calendar, with about 50,000 travel industry professionals from around the world and 3,000 influential international media in attendance.

According to the organisers of WTM, more than Stg2.2 billion's (approximately E2.8 billion's) worth of business was transacted at the event in 2013. This year, some 70 Irish tourism enterprises - including hotels, visitor attractions, ferry companies, coach companies, incoming tour operators, hostels and activity providers - are exhibiting at the Tourism Ireland stand. Over the next four days, they will engage in thousands of meetings with British and international tour operators as they negotiate and exchange vital contracts for 2015.

With more than 180 countries and regions all vying for business at WTM this week, Tourism Ireland aims to stand out from the crowd and capture the attention of the global media and travel trade in attendance - highlighting the unique offerings of the island of Ireland for potential visitors around the world.

The latest CSO figures for overseas visitors to Ireland are very strong, confirming growth of 9.3pc in overseas visitors to Ireland for the January to September period more than 500,000 additional visitors when compared with the same nine-month period in 2013. Government initiatives - including the reduction of the air travel tax to zero (which has helped increase key air routes to Ireland), as well as the retention of VAT on tourism services at 9pc (helping to make Ireland more competitive in terms of value for money), have played a significant role in helping grow visitor numbers. The recent launch of the British-Irish Visa Scheme is also significant, as it will mean Chinese and Indian visitors will be able - for the first time - to visit both Ireland and the UK, including Northern Ireland, on a single visa of either country.

Minister Michael Ring said: "I am highly impressed with the level of business being done by the tourism industry at this year's World Travel Market, particularly at the Ireland Stand, where I have seen tourism enterprises from all parts of Ireland conducting hundreds of business meetings and doing a great job of selling tourism to the global travel trade. The Government believes strongly in the importance of tourism as a vehicle for Irish economic recovery, and we are committed to supporting the tourism industry's efforts to increase Ireland's export earnings from overseas tourism."

Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: "The large representation of Irish tourism companies on the Tourism Ireland stand at World Travel Market this year is extremely welcome and essential in the highly competitive global marketplace."

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70 tourism firms for London World Fair