Tourism Ireland recently brought to India a delegation comprising airlines, hotels and the visa authorities from Ireland, led by Amanda Burns, General Manager Middle East and Asia, Tourism Ireland. Addressing the trade and media in Mumbai recently, Burns unveiled the destination’s new online training programme site – irelandspecialists.com.
The programme consists of six modules, and awards a gold status certificate to agents who score 100 per cent, and silver status to those who score 90-99 per cent. Gold status agents stand a chance to win a trip to Ireland as well. Speaking about the new training programme, Burns revealed that the department is aiming to train 750 agents through it this year.
Throwing light on Tourism Ireland’s strategy for the year, Burns stated that, increasing awareness of the destination is a focus for the department this year. During the trade mission, she highlighted the Limerick city of culture; the upcoming cycle race Giro d’Italia; the Wild Atlantic Way tourism route and the Causeway Coastal touring route. She further mentioned that, higher airline frequency by Emirates and Etihad, who have increased connectivity via their hubs, will help push Indian traffic to Ireland.