Top German journalists visiting Co Kildare to encourage tourists to visit 'Ireland's Ancient East'

(Pic by Dylan Vaughan: German journalists and bloggers with Judith von Rauchhaupt, Tourism Ireland (centre), during their fact-finding visit to Ireland’s Ancient East)

 By Kim O'Leary

Nine top journalists and bloggers from Germany – representing various print and online publications with a combined readership of almost 3 million people, or potential German holidaymakers – are exploring the wonderful gardens in Kildare and Ireland’s Ancient East this week, as guests of Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland.

Their action-packed itinerary included visits to Castletown House in Celbridge and Coolcarrigan House & Gardens near Naas. They also enjoyed dinner and an overnight stay in Killashee Hotel.

“Tourism Ireland was delighted to invite this group of influential journalists and bloggers to come and discover some of the beautiful gardens of Ireland’s Ancient East,” said Zoë Redmond, Tourism Ireland’s Manager Central Europe. “Fact-finding visits like this are a really effective way for us to get positive exposure for Ireland through the media in Germany, helping us to showcase the excellent tourism experiences on offer here to almost 3 million potential German holidaymakers.”

 Earlier this year, Tourism Ireland launched a new strategy to boost tourism from Germany, setting out challenging and ambitious targets which will see the island of Ireland welcome 800,000 German visitors per year by 2021, representing growth of +20%; and which will see revenue generated by holiday visitors increase by +27%, to €375 million per year.

For more information visit Tourism Ireland's international website www.ireland.com