Tourism Ireland presses the green button
Clare Island lighthouse, County Mayo, under a brooding sky.
by Caitrina Cody
Forget sneaky sun breaks, sangria on the balcony and tapas at 10pm. As far as Tourism Ireland is concerned, there's one hot destination for UK holiday-makers this autumn: and that's the epic coastlines, storied cities and rugged (if rain-soaked) landscapes of Ireland. ALHAUS magazine speaks to Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, about the ambitious Green Button campaign, which launches today.
Britain, we want you back. That's the message from Tourism Ireland today (1 October) as they launch their ‘Green Button’ campaign in the UK—a no-holds-barred, no-expense-spared effort to attract UK tourists back to Ireland this autumn and winter.
Speaking to ALHAUS magazine, Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons said the multi-million Euro campaign aims to generate awareness of the island of Ireland and drive bookings for short breaks and holidays here.
“We are delighted to roll out our new ‘Green Button’ campaign in Britain, a €4.6 million multi-media promotional campaign that will be seen by millions of people across Britain,” said Niall, who today announced an extensive programme of activity designed to promote Ireland in Great Britain, as well as a number of significant events like Flavours of Ireland 2021 and World Travel Market 2021.
“These upcoming events will allow our partners to highlight and sell their product to key contacts in Great Britain – encouraging them to feature Ireland in their 2022 holiday and tour programmes,” explained Niall.
Great Britain is a crucial market for tourism to the island of Ireland, delivering 42% of all overseas visitors and around 25% of all overseas tourism revenue in pre-COVID-19 times. In 2019, the country saw almost 4.8 million British visitors to the island of Ireland, whose visits generated around €1.45 billion in revenue.
The Green Button campaign will run until 5 December and feature TV advertising and video on-demand (expected to reach 17 million people), outdoor advertising (expected to reach 7.4 million people), digital advertising (expected to reach 21 million people) and social advertising (expected to reach 25 million people).
By employing the reassuring Green Button device, Tourism Ireland hopes to be really clear with British holiday-makers that Ireland is once again open for visitors, with increasing vaccination numbers across the country and a range of health and safety measures securely in place.
“Key priorities to ensure success will include rebuilding consumer confidence; as well as air and sea connectivity, which is vital as an island destination," added Niall. “Our key message is that we cannot wait to roll out the green carpet and welcome back visitors from Great Britain.”
Some of Ireland’s best-known celebrities in Britain are weighing in on the campaign, with influencer Vogue Williams, presenters Laura Whitmore and Dermot O’Leary and DJ Annie Mac posting on social media about Ireland—helping to position it as a future holiday destination for this key audience.
Travel partners in Britain are also getting in on the act with co-operative campaigns alongside the likes of Ryanair, Aer Lingus, Irish Ferries, Stena Line, British Airways and Loganair all in the pipeline. Online travel agents like TripAdvisor, Secret Escapes, Travelzoo, Skyscanner, Expedia, the Culture Trip and Lastminute.com will be rolling out attractive prices for related holidays, to highlight a value-for-money message.
Influential travel, culture and lifestyle journalists from the UK have been invited to visit Ireland to help spread awareness of the campaign (including National Geographic Traveller, The Telegraph, Mail on Sunday and the Financial Times) while celebrity chef Clodagh McKenna filmed a series of segments for ITV’s This Morning show in counties Cork and Kerry last month—due to air to an audience of around 2 million UK viewers.
So if you're based in Britain and contemplating your next holiday, Niall Gibbons and the Tourism Ireland team will be doing everything in their power to make it as easy as possible for you to press the green button.