Funding of €1 million has been allocated through Fáilte Ireland, five local authorities (Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Mayo and Roscommon), Tourism Ireland, the Western Development Commission and Ireland West Airport Knock, towards the Western Region Tourism Marketing Programme.
Fáilte Ireland is providing €600,000 of the €1 million total. It is estimated that the overall total campaign spend could actually reach €1.4 million as additional value is also leveraged from key carrier and tour operator partners overseas.
Speaking at the launch, Minister Ring said "I am delighted to be launching this new campaign for the Western Region and hopefully we can look forward to an influx of visitors to the area. This funding is testament to the Government's commitment towards tourism in the West and North West - aiming to increase the number of tourists coming to the region and boosting both jobs and revenue in the local economy.
"Through this campaign, we aim to heighten awareness of the region as a holiday destination in particular in our key overseas markets such as Great Britain and mainland Europe. With the added bonus of new flight routes secured for Ireland West Airport Knock, the West of Ireland is now truly set to sell itself as a must-see destination for overseas holidaymakers."
Today's news comes as new routes have just commenced from Ireland West Airport Knock with Ryanair operating four routes (Frankfurt - Hahn, Paris - Beauvais, Milan - Bergamo & Barcelona - Girona). These new routes started last month and will operate three times each week (Barcelona two times per week). In addition, Lufthansa will launch a new weekly Dusseldorf service on May 12th which will run throughout the high season.
