“Why Ireland” was awarded first place in the Outstanding Contribution category at the Golden City Gate international film festival, in San Francisco, this week.

It is clear why “Why Ireland” a video, created by Meet in Ireland, a Failte Ireland initiative, is already winning awards and earning raves from American travel writers.

The video was made to convey why Ireland is a great place for business tourism. In reality it makes us want to plan a seriously long vacation around this lovely little island in the Atlantic.

The short video portrays Ireland’s unique selling points of Ireland as a world class business tourism destination featuring state of the art infrastructure and the famous 100,000 welcomes.

See what we mean!

The tourism board’s initiative, Meet in Ireland, was launched in 2014, to support corporate tourism.

Before it’s launch Paul Mockler, Corporate and Incentive Manager at Failte Ireland told IrishCentral’s sister publication Irish America magazine that business tourism is worth in excess of $619m (€570m) a year to the Irish economy and the sector is experiencing strong growth.

He said “Business tourism supports over 19,000 jobs in Ireland and in 2013 it grew by 9 percent, which is a clear indication of its importance to the country.

“On average a business tourist would be worth twice as much as a leisure tourist with an average of $1,522 (€1,400) per delegate.”

Fáilte Ireland  snagged another award at the Golden Gate awards for their “Seen from the sky: The Wild Atlantic Way” video. The footage was filmed using a drone and a GoPro camera by Raymond Fogarty of AirCam Ireland, Cork.

For more information on Failte Ireland’s business tourism programs visit meetinireland.com.