Tourism Ireland’s annual sales mission is crossing eastern Canada this week as the road show rolls through London, Ottawa, Montreal, and concluding in Halifax on Thursday. The sales blitz to showcase the Emerald Isle to travel agents is supported by a delegation of 20 tourism enterprises from Ireland (plus three Canadian partners), comprising the largest delegation ever to Ireland’s fifth largest revenue market.

Set to attract over 320 agents, the events are designed to help advisors sell Ireland by targeting key consumer passion points of adventure and experiences, ‘craic’ and culture, history, and heritage as well as luxury travel via panel discussions by industry experts across the island of Ireland, with partners also connecting with top tier travel and lifestyle media and influencers at two of the events while in Ottawa and Montreal.

The events also celebrate what’s new for 2023 for Canadian clients with the aim of encouraging agents to drive bookings for 2023/24 and beyond.

Sandra Moffatt, Tourism Ireland’s manager for Canada, says the sales mission is a key strategy in rebuilding tourism to 2019 levels in Ireland.

“This week’s sales mission… offers a strong opportunity for partners to connect with travel advisors selling the island of Ireland, encouraging them to expand their programming and ensure Ireland is top of mind when recommending destinations to clients,” she says. “Canadian holidaymakers are highly valued with 240,000 Canadian visitors delivering €209 million to the economy in 2019, and we look forward to re-building sustainable tourism growth from across the country this year.”