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Strandhill Wins EDEN Award

Strandhill Community Development Association in County Sligo was honoured as the Irish winner of the 2019 EDEN (European Destination of Excellence) Award. The EDEN strand

award recognises Strandhill Community Development Association as the best emerging destination that promotes sustainable tourism by using Health & Well-Being assets that are characteristic of their region to grow visitor numbers. The EDEN award was officially presented to the winner by Fáilte Ireland, at a ceremony in the Sligo Park Hotel.

Health and Well-Being Tourism is a growing sector that is responding to visitor needs and interest in physical and mental well-being, yoga and meditation, sport and fitness, and nutrition. Wellness and spa tourism can have a beneficial impact on the environment as it depends largely on high quality environment including clean water, clean air and an attractive ecosystem. Wellness tourism is growing globally by 6.5% annually (more than twice the growth rate for general tourism).

Fáilte Ireland’s Eva Costello manages the EDEN competition in Ireland.

US campaign targets 70m.

Tourism Ireland kicks off a major US$1.7 million promotional campaign for 2020 in the all-important American market this week – with a five-week TV campaign which will reac fillurheart1119

h 70+ million people.

Tourism Ireland’s ads – ‘Fill Your Heart With Ireland’ – will air on major networks, including NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox, in the key cities of Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis and Philadelphia. They will run for two weeks over the Thanksgiving period. The ads will be back on air from 9 December until the end of the year – specially timed to coincide with the Christmas holidays. For the final week of the campaign, the ads will also air in Seattle, San Francisco and New York; the week between Christmas and New Year is a key vacation-planning period for Americans.

Distilleries grow 'experiental tourism'

‘Irish whiskey is set to be a world leader in experiential tourism’ was the message delivered to the annual European Spirits Summit in Brussels by William Lavelle, Head of the teeling1019

Irish whiskey industry’s representative body.

Lavelle said: “The global growth of Irish whiskey has a long way to go yet. Future growth will be driven by premiumisation, including in non-traditional markets. The quid-pro-quo of premiumisation is authenticity. Discerning consumers demand authenticity. They demand uniqueness.”

“Irish whiskey is proud to have a geographic indication (GI). Our GI is the guarantee of our authenticity and of our uniqueness. But we see our GI as being more than just something that exists in regulation and which must be protected. We see our GI as something to be celebrated and this is what Irish whiskey tourism has to offer.”

Hotel plan appealed

Plans for a €20m refurbishment of the Mercantile Hotel on Dublin's Dame Street are being put on hold after an objection by a tenant of an adjoining building.

Solicitor, John Synnott, whose practice is based in Dame House, has lodged an appeal with An Bórd Pleanala against the hotel's proposed extension into the office building where he has a long-term lease.

Mr Synnottis challenging last month's de cision by Dublin City Council to grant planning permission for the redevelopment of the existing Mercantile Hotel and the change of use of Dame House from office to hotel with an amalgamation of the two protected buildings.

From Jutland to Slane

A group of Danish travel agents and journalists – all based in Jutland – is visiting Ireland, as guests of Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland and Ryanair. They flew to Ireland on the daneslane1119

inaugural Ryanair flight from Billund to Dublin.

Pictured is Maarit Kärkkäinen, Tourism Ireland (fourth right), with Danish travel journalists and travel agents, at Slane Distillery.

The aim of the visit is to highlight the new Ryanair flight and ease of access to people living in Jutland – via these influential travel agents and journalists. The trip is also an excellent opportunity to showcase our superb tourism offering and some of the many things to see and do here for Danish travellers. The journalists will be sharing their experiences, in various online and print publications, to their combined audience of around 838,000 readers.