Mayo will be putting its best face forward this weekend, as it features in a Fáilte Ireland series of exciting and compelling tours to highlight all the best Ireland has to offer to a visiting group of influential overseas travel operators who are in Ireland to attend Meitheal, Ireland’s largest travel trade fair.
The travel trade fair Meitheal kicked off in the RDS, Dublin, on Tuesday and over the course of its run it will welcome some 280 of the world’s top travel and tourism buyers from 16 overseas markets from around the world to Dublin to engage directly with 500 Irish tourism businesses. The tours, which took place in the days leading up to the trade fair, were intended to provide the visiting travel agents with a direct experience of what an Irish holiday can offer their customers.
The tours have been tailored to capture the variety of things on offer in Ireland and include a tailored trip along the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland’s first long distance touring route which is already garnering significant interest overseas.
They discovered Westport, 2014 winner of Best Large Tourism Town, with its cheerful shop fronts, also voted the best place in Ireland to live. Indeed few towns in Ireland can match Westport’s charm and flavour. While in Westport the group stayed at the Knockranny House Hotel and visited Westport House and Pirate Adventure Park. Much of Mayo’s spectacular scenery is located along the Wild Atlantic Way, and the group experienced this by cycling along The Great Western Greenway from Achill to Mulranny before finishing with lunch at the Mulranny Park Hotel before heading to get a glimpse of the country's industrial past at Foxford Woollen Mills.
Delighted to have these influential tour operators visiting Mayo and indeed Westport, Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Michael Ring, commented: “A visit to County Mayo provides a valuable opportunity to show the best of Ireland to these members of the international travel trade. With interest in visiting Ireland growing, our appeal remains strong and trips like these ensure that we can grow our appeal and bring more visitors to this region in the years to come.”
