Tourism Ireland is planning a major marketing campaign to kick-start the resumption of tourism back into the country next year, when the time is right.
The agency today shared its plans for recovery of overseas tourism in a virtual event that is being attended by hundreds of tourism companies from across the island and abroad.
The plan is focused on three phases aimed at restarting inbound visits, then rebuilding the market, followed by redesigning it.
The first phase next year will prioritise the restarting of business when the public health situation allows, with St Patrick's Day a possible start point.
"As international travel begins to restart next year, it is clear that keeping the island of Ireland front and centre in consumers' minds will be critical," said Niall Gibbons, Tourism Ireland chief executive.
"Every destination across the globe has experienced the impact of Covid and will be seeking their share of the recovery," Mr Gibbons said.
"When the time is right, Tourism Ireland will need to punch through the noise and create an immediate desire to visit. Flexibility, above all, will be absolutely key," he added.
As part of the build up to the resumption of inbound tourism, Tourism Ireland will run a digital campaign over Christmas called "Let's get back to Ireland".
It will run in 12 different markets including Britain, the US, France and Germany.
Running until mid-January, a separate campaign aimed at the diaspora is also under way in the UK, the US and Canada.
The global social campaign #FillYourHeartWithIreland is also to continue into next year.
When the decision is taken to resume actively encouraging visits here, a "Green Button" campaign will be launched urging people to book ahead.
Virtual trade promotions, major broadcasts promoting Ireland and the annual Global Greening where landmarks around the world are lit up in green for St Patrick's Day are also planned.
"This has been a catastrophic year for everyone in our industry, but I do believe that tourism can, and will, recover from this pandemic," said Mr Gibbons.
"Recent news about vaccines is really positive and gives us hope for travel in 2021," he added.
