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Award for Tourism Standard

The National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) has received a top international award for a new innovative

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standard for the tourism sector.

I.S. 373:2013 ‘Universal Design for customer engagement in tourism services’ helps tourism providers to make their

Published by NSAI in 2013, this standard was a collaborative project between the National Disability Authority, the Equality Authority and Fáilte Ireland. 2015 was a record year for tourism in Ireland, with 8.6 million overseas visitors. That is one million more tourists in Ireland, compared to 2014.products or services more accessible, by improving various types of communication, such as written, verbal and electronic. This Irish standard and free toolkit, the first of its kind in the world, enables tourism providers to communicate more effectively with a wider range of tourists, helping to improve customer services and increase revenue.

Aherlow Hotel Closes

Aherlow House Hotel in Co.Tipperary has closed.

Hotel management said it was “with great regret” it ceased trading and would be unable to honour wedding and function bookings.

It is understood up to 40 couples are affected by the announcement while all the hotel’s 25 staff have been left go.

Anglo Irish Bank appointed a receiver to the business in 2010

“It recently became clear that the receiver intended to place the hotel for sale on the open market,” its owners said.

NI in Oz feature

An article showcasing Northern Ireland and its Game of Thrones connections appeared in last weekend’s edition of The Weekend Australian, profiling the destination to more than 225,000 readers – or potential Australian holidaymakers for Northern Ireland.

NI Tourism Growth

Tourism Ireland has welcomed the figures for overseas visitors to Northern Ireland for the first nine months of 2015, issued by NISRA . The figures confirm that we welcomed more than 1.5 million overseas visitors between January and September, up +11% on the same period in 2014. Holiday visitors accounted for almost half a million overseas visitors (+12%); and, more importantly for the economy, revenue from overseas visitors to Northern Ireland grew by +9% during this period (£378 million).

World Goes Green for Ireland

Tourism Ireland announced that the Colosseum in Rome, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Sacré-Cœur Basilica in Paris, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro and Nelson’s Column in London will go green this year to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, as part of the organisation’s seventh annual Global Greening initiative.

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New ‘greenings’ for 2016 will include 7 World Trade Center at Ground Zero in New York, the famous Big Wheel on Place de la Concorde in Paris, Mole Antonelliana in Turin (the architectural symbol of the city), the light rail system in Addis Ababa (the first light rail system in sub-Saharan Africa) and City Hall in Tel Aviv. Also, the famous Boston Red Sox (baseball team) will wear green jerseys on St Patrick’s Day, for their spring training game in Florida. And their home ground, Fenway Park in Boston, will also join in the ‘greening’ fun – with the inside of the ballpark, the scoreboards and the ‘Green Monster’ (high left field wall) all set to be illuminated in green.