Outbound

Irish Prime Minister visits India with a high profile delegation

Neeti Mehra - Mumbai

With a view to enhance bilateral political, economic and cultural relations with India, An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern TD, prime minister of Ireland, visited Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, leading a large business delegation, representing over eighty organisations from various sectors including tourism, culture and the arts. With the recent bilateral agreement between India and the UK, and additional flights from the Gulf, Ireland plans to push the Indian outbound traveller to visit the country. Delegates included John O' Donoghue TD minister for arts, sports and tourism, Paul O' Toole, chief executive, Tourism Ireland and Jim Paul, director, new & developing markets, Tourism Ireland.

Speaking on the occasion, An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, said, "India and Ireland have both been experiencing strong and sustained economic growth. More of our people have greater disposable incomes and, with that, comes a greater propensity to travel. The Indian government's free skies policy and the opening of air routes between India and Europe, will drive tourism growth very strongly. India is a priority market in our Asia strategy. Traditionally, visitors have been drawn to Ireland by two things - the beauty of the place and the friendliness of the people. We have a lot to offer tourists visiting our country - its music scene, both traditional and modern, golf and horse racing. Regarding films, we have a strong infrastructure and are building an international location profile based on the quality of our facilities and expertise, our tax incentives, the variety, beauty and accessibility. I can assure that those who visit Ireland will not be disappointed."

John O' Donoghue said, "We have had long term associations with India in terms of the cultural and political perspective. We have also signed an agreement for cultural co-operation with India, which provides for cultural exchanges. In addition, we have opened a new visa unit in our embassy in Delhi to facilitate faster processing of visas. With the new flights by Gulf Air and Aer Lingus to Bahrain and Dubai, we would like to attract that segment of tourists, and vice-versa for inbound tourists." With the Ryder Cup, one of the most prestigious golfing tournaments worldwide to be hosted this year in September, the tourism board with an estimated audience of over 1 billion, the board will dovetail promotions around this event to push the special interest golf segment. Ireland has 407 golf courses and out of this 1/3 are championship links golf courses.

Also accompanying this delegation were Naoise Barry, film commissioner, The Irish Film Board and Richard Williams, chief executive, Northern Ireland Film and Television commission with an aim of positioning Ireland as a prime contender in the highly competitive cinematic tourism circuit. Giving a glimpse of Irish hospitality were Alan Hill, CEO, Town & Country Homes, Ireland's leading Bed and Bath Association and Roisin Wallace, director of sales & marketing, Irish Country Hotels.