NEW MARKET:INDIA IS AN aspirational and increasingly popular destination with Irish travellers, but the Slumdog Millionaireimage of the country belies the fact that Indians like to travel, too, and many can afford grand European tours.
For the first time Dublin has been included on the European itinerary of Cox Kings, which has a major Indian tour group business. This week the company’s first group of almost 50 Indian tourists arrived in Dublin for a three-night stay.
They took in the usual sights: Trinity College – including the Book of Kells – and the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, and Avoca Handweavers and Powerscourt House and Gardens in Co Wicklow.
It was the end of a whirlwind 19-day itinerary that took in Frankfurt, Innsbruck, Venice, Tuscany, Florence, Rome, Chamonix, Gstaad, Lucerne, Jungfraujoch, Paris (including Disneyland), Belgium, Amsterdam, Brussels, London, Stratford-upon-Avon and Dublin (with a side trip to Waterford Crystal).
Tourism Ireland, the umbrella body that markets the Republic and Northern Ireland to overseas tourists, has established an office in Mumbai.
Michael McCormick, Tourism Ireland’s manager for Asia, said: “We are delighted to welcome this group from India. There is increasing awareness of the island of Ireland as a holiday destination in India, and our marketing campaigns are generating keen interest in Ireland.”
The Asia-Pacific region will be one of the fastest-growing sources of tourists wanting to travel the world over the next 15 years, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.