Fáilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority of Ireland, have found that the St Patrick’s Day Festival of 2013 had twice the economic impact of the same event in 2010.

Irish based, Leitrim Tourism, is in New York this week to launch a recruitment drive to increase the number of Leitrim Ambassadors in the US. The initiative is targeting people who come from Leitrim and are now living in New York, and the US, and is encouraging them to become advocates of their native county by creating awareness of what’s on offer and encouraging others to consider the beautiful county in the West of Ireland for future vacations.
 
The search for ambassadors was officially initiated last evening in the well known New York based Irish bar, Rosie O’Gradys. A large Leitrim contingent attended the event all entertained by famous Leitrim son, writer and actor, Seamus O’Rourke.
 
The event coincides with a GAA match which sees Leitrim’s Senior team take on New York in the Connacht Senior Football Championship.  The highly anticipated match takes place in Gaelic Park at 3pm on Sunday, 5th May. The quarter final of the Connacht championship is expected to attract a large crowd to Gaelic Park where Leitrim Tourism officials will be on hand to meet natives of the county and encourage them to take part in this new initiative.
 
In order to continue the success of the Gathering initiative Leitrim folk are being encouraged to tell their friends, family, neighbours and work colleagues about the County of Leitrim and to increase people’s awareness of what’s on offer to those who visit. This initiative seeks to build on the success of the 2013 year of the Gathering and encourages people to consider Lovely Leitrim for a future vacation next year and beyond.

Ireland’s tourist board ought to promote its heritage because it's unique heritage is what really gives it its competitive advantage in a world where everywhere is looking increasingly the same, writer and presenter Loyd Grossman told the Failte Ireland at the Irish tourism conference this week.

Northern Ireland will have a Game of Thrones tour that will take guests to some of the most exciting sites of HBO’s hit series “Game of Thrones.” A start date has not yet been announced.

Leitrim Tourism are set to launch a recruitment drive to increase the number of Leitrim Ambassadors in the U.S.

Tourism Ireland has announced the appointment of Alison Metcalfe as its new Head of North America.

BELFAST, Northern Ireland: Gerard McGlade stops his taxi opposite an Ulster Volunteer Force mural depicting gun-toting, black-clad fighters and begins rattling off statistics – 80,000 injured, 35,000 jailed, 3,795 dead.

More than one million people from the U.S. and Canada visited the island of Ireland in 2012, a three percent increase on the previous year according to figures recently released from Ireland’s Central Statistics Office. 

Gabriel Byrne’s shakedown of the Irish tourism initiative The Gathering has helped attract visitors to Ireland, according to one of its directors.

Tradition is well and good until you look at the sales receipts. That's the message coming from the Restaurant Association of Ireland, who are arguing that the time has come to lift the ban on the sale of alcohol on Good Friday.

Failte Ireland, Ireland’s National Tourism Development Authority, has said that The Gathering is already benefiting the Irish economy.

The Irish tourism board Failte Ireland (Welcome Ireland) is projecting there will strong growth in overall tourism numbers to Ireland in 2013, the result of serialized tourism marketing and The Gathering, a new tourism initiative that aims to attract 325,000 additional overseas visitors.

The Irish government’s tourism board, Fáilte Ireland, has named Portmagee in Co. Kerry as the winner of the National Tourism Towns Awards.

A festival for left handed people and an attempt to break a world record for bearded men are two of the 1,700 offbeat festivals announced for The Gathering, Ireland’s invitation for people to come reconnect with Ireland.

North American tourists who visited Ireland for the Notre Dame/Navy game provided a welcome boost to the economy.

Those at the head of The Gathering Ireland 2013 have vowed to weed out any events scheduled during the festival or any scammers attempting to claim some of the special funding being allocated.