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Largest ever group of international travel agents visiting Ireland
Dublin is preparing for the arrival of close to 1,700 Flight Centre travel agents in the next few days and with specially branded city flags and airport banners, the winning agents will receive a warm Dublin welcome.
Flight Centre, Australasia’s largest retail travel agency group with 1,200 stores in seven countries, will hold its annual, global conference in Dublin this weekend which is a first, not only for Ireland but also for Europe, with it is estimated the conference being worth €2 million directly to the Irish economy and encouraging further growth in Irish tourism from Flight Centre’s markets.
The Flight Centre Global Gathering will include travel agents from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, India, China and Great Britain and comprises the company’s top senior management as well as key suppliers.
Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr Séamus Brennan T.D., met with the executive team of Flight Centre, including CEO Mr Graham Turner, in advance of the main conference on Friday, with the Minister saying, “It is a tremendous honour for Ireland to be chosen as the first ever European destination to host this event.”
“It presents us with an excellent platform to showcase the island of Ireland as a premier destination and to develop our contacts with many long-haul markets which will be increasingly important to our tourism business.”
Mr Paul O’Toole, CEO, Tourism Ireland said, “Australasia is a significant, developing market for the island of Ireland.” “Last year, we welcomed a record number of visitors to these shores, of which 153,000 visitors were from Australia and New Zealand.” “There is a noticeable shift in global travel trends with an increase particularly in long haul travel from the Middle East and the Far East.”
“Working with Flight Centre provides us with an excellent opportunity to develop even more business from developing markets such as South Africa and Asia, to help Ireland secure its share of what are becoming the most exciting growth markets in the world.”
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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