Kildare companies hitting 4 major cities in China to expand tourism market for the county

Tourism Ireland, together with 15 tourism companies from the island of Ireland, including Kildare Village and Newbridge Silverware, is preparing to blitz four major cities in China next month, as part of its 2017 sales mission to grow tourism from China. The organisation held a briefing on Friday in Dublin, for the Irish tourism operators who will participate in the 2017 China sales mission.

The sales mission – which takes place 24-28 April – will target top Chinese travel agents and tour operators in the key cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Travel agents continue to play an important role in China, with travellers preferring to use a travel agent for a number of reasons, including convenience, language barriers, visa preparation and knowledge gaps. The objective of the upcoming sales mission is to engage with Chinese travel professionals who are currently selling the island of Ireland, or who have strong potential to sell the destination – and to encourage them to extend their Ireland offering, or to include Ireland for the first time, in their brochures and programmes.

Business links between the Kildare tourism companies and the influential Chinese travel professionals will be strengthened during the sales mission, through a busy programme of workshops, presentations and networking events.

Commenting on the upcoming sales mission, Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: “Our sales mission is a key element of our promotional programme in China, to win a greater share of the 4 million Chinese visitors who travel to Europe each year. It will give our tourism partners a platform to inform and influence the Chinese travel trade on all that Kildare and Ireland have to offer and, importantly, encourage them to include the destination in their brochures and programmes. Tourism Ireland is committed to growing Chinese visitor numbers to Ireland and our sales missions play a significant role in helping us do so.”

According to the latest data from the UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organization), China is now the world’s largest outbound travel market – with more than 127 million people travelling overseas each year, spending over $292 billion.