Possibly because of their fondness for creamy pints of Guinness and Aran jumpers, Ireland has come fourth in a list of dream holiday destinations for US holidaymakers.
It would be unfair to stereotype all American tourists to these shores as we have above but there’s obviously something about us that appeals to folks Stateside as only Australia, Italy and New Zealand ranked higher in a list of dream destinations in a survey carried out by Virtuoso Life magazine, a bi-monthly publication distributed to homes of 200,000 wealthy American holidaymakers.
France, South Africa and the Caribbean were amongst the destinations ranked below Ireland in the list, in which Ireland made a significant leap from a similar survey last year, where we were ranked in ninth place. Must have been that fortnight of weather we had last month.
Commenting on the survey, Niall Gibbons of Tourism Ireland is quoted in the Irish Independent as saying: “The United States is an extremely important tourism market for the island of Ireland and we believe that we are on course to achieve our best year ever from that market,” he added.
“The most recent figures from the Central Statistics Office showed a very positive start to 2013, with the strongest first half performance ever from North America.
“This year, we hope to welcome over one million American visitors, spending about one billion US dollars.”
Seems as if it’s a great old country we have here after all, regardless of whether or not we can put a roof on it.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
