News Release -
Shannon Development predict Basque area of France and Spain will be key tourism markets for Shannon Region
In a major tourism promotional initiative, Shannon Development tourism representatives have just returned (November 9th ‘06) from a very successful media and travel trade blitz in the Basque area of France and Spain where they were working to entice visitors to the Shannon Region.
“The recent launch of the new Ryanair routes from Biarritz to Shannon International Airport, and the new Carcassonne flight, gives us an ideal opportunity to form strategic partnerships with local tourism authorises in these cities to facilitate a marketing alliance, and ultimately attract more visitors to the Shannon Region”, says Mr. John King, Heritage and Tourism Director, Shannon Development.
“With a catchment area of over one million in the Basque area and now with direct access to the Shannon Region from Biarritz and Carcassonne airports, this area of south west France and Northern Spain will be a key future tourism market for the Shannon Region. These areas hold great future potential to grow visitors into the Shannon Region”, says Mr. King.
The purpose of the promotional drive was to secure a number of key media and tourism trade contacts in new destinations services by Ryanair. Shannon Development organised a series of meetings with a number of key tourism bodies in the Region including; Biarritz Tourism, Bayonne Tourism, Anglet Tourism and Biarritz Airport.
“As a result of our visit a number of key media trade links have been established. A number of distinct tourism initiatives were agreed between key tourism and trade bodies in the Basque region that should ensure a strong market for visitors between the two regions”, says Pat Daly, Tourism Marketing Manager, Shannon Development.
In addition to this Shannon Development organised a special presentation for top national and regional travel journalists around the Basque area and as a result a number of top French and Spanish travel media have expressed an interest in featuring the Shannon Region as a tourist destination in their forthcoming publications. Shannon Development is talking with Tourism Ireland, Failte Ireland and Ryanair about organising a familiarisation trip to the Shannon Region for these media.
“We identified a number of business and co-operative partnership opportunities between our Regions. There are a number of similarities between the Basque and Shannon Regions. For example there is a strong surfing, golf, ruby and heritage tradition. We will be working closely with our counterparts in France and Spain to maximise on these for our mutual benefit, and we plan to work with the Shannon Region tourism trade to help them initiative business contacts which will be on benefit to them in the future”, says Mr. Daly.
“We are confident that given the positive response to our tourism message that this will generate additional tourism business for the Shannon Region in 2007. We will continue to work with key tourism reps in these areas to forge lasting partnerships which can yield dividends for the Shannon Region”, says Mr. King.
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Nandi O’Sullivan
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