CTA members enjoyed a wonderful celebration of St Patrick’s Day on zoom, and we are very grateful for all the support and enthusiasm from Tourism Ireland and Hillsborough Castle.
The event certainly whet everyone’s appetite to get back to the island of Ireland as soon as it is possible to do so. See a video of the event below.
Just read some of the comments we received at the end of the session:
- Thanks everyone, that was great!
- Well done CTA , great event
- Looking forward to the Welsh one!
- Love Irish dancing
- Great presentation. Thank you to all concerned. Enjoy your day
- Thank you Helen for the invite & Happy St Patrick’s Day
- I visited Hillsborough with a tour last September and Alan looked after myself and my group like an absolute pro. They loved it and Hillsborough was so welcoming. Highly recommend including in your tour programme.
- Thank you all very much. Very interesting and informative.
- Many thanks for your superb hospitality, excellent ! Happy St Patrick’s Day
- Excellent session CTA, let’s have more like this, Happy St. Patricks Day everyone!
- Thank you CTA, Tourism Ireland & Historic Royal Palaces, very informative. Happy St. Patricks Day – Slainte
- Thanks for organising. Looking forward to both my Guinness and Irish Coffee tonight as a belated celebration for the rugby! “Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit!”
- Many thanks to everyone involved. Much appreciated
- Thank you so much for all at CTA, great work, cant wait to see you all for real
- Thank you Tourism Ireland for your kind hospitality, again. Much appreciated.
- Thank you to the CTA for organising a superb event, and thank you to Alan and Matt from HRP for an excellent presentation and a perfect Irish Coffee Demonstration – can’t wait to have a go myself tonight!
- I’ll defo go to Ireland
- Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh go léir
- Looking forward to travelling to the Island of Ireland one day soon.
- Fabulous start to the day Well done Robert and all at CTA
- Thanks to all for such an interesting and informative event! Happy St Patrick’s Day!
- Thanks everyone, brilliant presentations. So looking forward to returning to Ireland with loads of groups.
We were delighted to be joined by Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons who presented a picture in words of all the magic your groups can expect from a trip to Ireland. There is every expectation that once the restrictions on travel are lifted, there will be significant demand for coach trips and a very warm welcome is certain across the island of Ireland.
Members also heard from Hillsborough Castle’s Alan Greer about the history of the site and the facilities for coach group visits. Alan also showed us how to prepare a perfect Irish Coffee which members should be able to replicate with the free kit sent to them courtesy of Tourism Ireland. (Matt Coulter from HRP also pointed out that it can provide more information on planning a group visit to Hillsborough at its dedicated groups page or email: groupsandtraveltrade@hrp.org.uk)
A lively question and answer session followed. There were comments about the availability of hotels across Ireland following the resumption of tours and CTA member Dalata Hotels assured everyone that they have plenty of rooms available across its Clayton and Maldron hotels (details here) as well as a Dalata Keep Safe Programme – Group Operational Procedures for Tour Operators. Hilton also reported lots of bed stock availability in its Irish hotels.
A grand finale was provided in a special Riverdance performance recorded at Slane Castle.
Here’s a video of the whole event for those who missed it, including the special Riverdance performance at the end.
Here are the Tourism Ireland contact details:
Tourism Ireland GB Trade team – get in touch!
England
David Wood
Juno Thompson
Scotland
Caroline Mulligan
Linda Duncan
