As you know, we LOVE Ireland — it’s our specialty. So, when Pam was invited to the Drake Hotel to have Lunch with An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, the Prime Minister of Ireland, she could not refuse! She mingled and chatted with him about our support and love for travel to his country. Check out the pictures below!

From the press release: Taoiseach Enda Kenny is visited Chicago the week of June 5th, as part of a trade mission with Enterprise Ireland. He took the time to support Tourism Ireland’s promotional efforts, when he met some of the leading tour operators, airlines and meetings and incentive travel planners based in Chicago, who program and actively sell Ireland for both leisure and business travel. The United States is one of the greatest contributors of visitors and tourism revenue to the island of Ireland. And, outbound travel from the US to the island of Ireland has grown faster than to many of our competitor destinations – so that today, over one in ten American travelers to Europe now visits Ireland.

• Tourism Ireland is the organization responsible for promoting the island of Ireland overseas as a leading holiday destination.
• Tourism is the island of Ireland’s largest indigenous industry; responsible for in excess of 4 % of GNP in the Republic of Ireland and employing approximately 220,000 people.
• In 2016, we welcomed approximately 10.5 million overseas visitors to the island of Ireland, delivering revenue of about €5.4 billion.
• Tourism Ireland’s international website is www.ireland.com, 29 market sites available in 11 language versions around the world, which attracted a record 18 million visitors in 2016.

 

Gadabout is proud to be a leading provider of tours and travel in Ireland!