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December 18, 1996
Weather: Dublin, Ireland
City Guides and Maps: Ireland
Ireland's Legacy - 1.1M, 30 second QT movie(CNN) -- Ireland is a land of disparate images. In many a traveler's mind, the "Emerald Isle" traditionally invokes lush scenery, friendly people and pub crawls. Over the past few decades, however, Ireland has also become known for conflict, as entities within the British-ruled North and the independent South have waged a war effectively dividing the country.
Tourism officials from both sides of the border are now coming together to try to bridge that division. For the first time, the island of Ireland is being marketed as a whole.
"It's new," said Enda Kenny, Minister for Tourism and Trade in the Republic of Ireland. "This is a promotion that's grown from the ground up and at the involvement of two governments, two ministers, two tourism boards and the entire industry surrounding tourism itself."
The promotion comes at a time when travelers are visiting in record numbers, an increase tourism officials attribute to a massive television advertising campaign.
Officials say international tourism is growing faster in Ireland than in all of Europe, with an average growth rate of 15 percent over the past several years and more than 4 million visitors in 1995 alone.
Most travelers visit the Emerald Isle's Southern republic, but growth is expected in the North as well. Since 1988, tourism has helped create nearly a third of the country's new jobs. To keep the momentum going, the joint marketing plan has a lofty, and extremely challenging, goal: change the views of potential visitors.
Kenny pointed out that international television coverage of crisis incidents in Northern Ireland leads some to believe, falsely, that "the entire country is at war with itself."
Baroness Denton, Tourism Minister for Northern Ireland, said as more people are able to visit and see what the island is really like, positive messages about its benefits as a travel destination will be redistributed globally. When the people put aside their fears, she said, the country will get more of an opportunity to share its rich heritage and tradition with new and old visitors alike.
And officials hope the opportunity will promote a future for Ireland far different from the past.
Ireland boasts mild winters and temperate summers; July and August are the warmest months and January and February are the coldest.
Weather: Dublin, Ireland
City Guides and Maps: Ireland
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