Tourism Ireland board meets in the Walled City

The City Hotel was the venue for the June board meeting of Tourism Ireland, which took place in Derry today (Thursday, 15 June).

While in the city, the board members also took the opportunity to meet with local tourism operators, to discuss overseas tourism to Northern Ireland this year and the extensive programme of activity which Tourism Ireland is undertaking to promote Derry, the North-West and the island of Ireland around the world in 2023.

Speaking after the board meeting, Siobhan McManamy, Interim Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “We were delighted to be in Derry for this month’s board meeting and to have the chance to meet with representatives of the local tourism industry and to hear directly about their business.

“It also gave us the opportunity to discuss overseas tourism in 2023 and the extensive programme of promotional activity which Tourism Ireland is undertaking around the world, to highlight the North-West and the island of Ireland to prospective visitors.”

Derry features prominently in Tourism Ireland’s new global campaign ‘Fill your heart with Ireland’, which is being rolled out in our top tourism markets.

One of the ads features Saoirse-Monica Jackson and Jamie-Lee O’Donnell from Derry Girls and features the historic city walls, Peadar O’Donnell’s bar, the Peace Bridge and, of course, the Derry Girls mural.

The city and county feature prominently on Tourism Ireland’s international website, Ireland.com, which attracted more than 12.2 million unique views in 2022.

Derry's attractions, festivals and scenery are also highlighted on Tourism Ireland’s social media platforms, including Facebook (Tourism Ireland has around 4.7 million fans worldwide), Instagram (over 1.1 million followers), Twitter (over 562,000 followers) and YouTube.

Shane Clarke, Tourism Ireland; James Huey, Walled City Brewery; Maeve McLaughlin, Museum of Free Derry; David Gilliland, Brooke Hall; Margaret Edwards, Derry City and Strabane District Council; Jamese McCloy, Glenshane Country Farm, Sharon McMahon, Loughs Agency and Christopher Brooke, Chairman of Tourism Ireland. Photos: Lorcan Doherty

In 2022, Tourism Ireland generated positive publicity in international media outlets for Derry worth £28.5 million (in equivalent advertising value) – through media visits, press releases, ezines and in-market media events.

Tourism Ireland is rolling out its ‘twinning’ initiative again this year, which involves each overseas market ‘twinning with’ a specific region or area on the island of Ireland. GB is twinned with Derry and Donegal, so Tourism Ireland in GB is placing a special focus on the North-West in 2023.