Ireland's State Visitors Generate 38,000 Articles Worldwide

The recent visits of Queen Elizabeth and President Obama to Ireland generated at least €298 million worth of publicity through some 37,795 separate print and broadcast pieces, the country's Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar has revealed.

Minister Varadkar said he was delighted with the findings, particularly when the CSO has already revealed a strong start to the year in terms of overseas visitors. The research, conducted by Kantar Media and commissioned by Fáilte Ireland, reveals that both high-profile visits generated enormous global exposure for Ireland as a tourism destination. The coverage is estimated to be worth at least €298 million in terms of its advertising equivalent.

Minister Varadkar said: “This is tremendous news. We couldn’t ask for a better platform on which to rebuild our tourism industry. The visits by Queen Elizabeth II and President Obama were events of truly global significance.

“Things are already looking up for Irish tourism. The latest CSO figures show the first increase in overseas visitors in almost three years. Last week we launched a major domestic tourism initiative, and the Government has made tourism a priority with the Jobs Initiative. We must all take advantage of this tremendous global coverage and ensure that 2011 is the year that Irish tourism finally makes a recovery.”

The research revealed significant coverage for both visits. President Obama’s visit

generated 11,586 print and online articles; and 4,416 separate broadcast pieces (US & UK) - 3,493 in the US alone.

Queen Elizabeth’s visit generated 15,793 print and online articles; and 6,000 separate broadcast pieces.

The research was commissioned by Fáilte Ireland, which hosted the international media centre in Dublin Castle during the two visits. It focused mainly on Ireland’s core tourism markets of the US, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Canada.

(BMcN/KMcA)