Ireland Specialist program launched for GCC
Guest Writers are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the specific writer directly
Tourism Ireland has launched its first ‘Ireland Specialists’ eLearning platform in the GCC. The program assists travel agents and tour operators in the GCC in promoting Ireland. The UAE is the first of eight global Tourism Ireland markets to launch the programme in January 2014.
prime minister of Ireland, An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD who visited UAE last week launched the eLearning initiative. Also attending was CEO of Tourism Ireland, Niall Gibbons, and Hemant Baheti, leisure manager at Kanoo Travel, who was the UAE’s first qualified ‘Ireland Specialist’.
Last year, Ireland welcomed eight million overseas visitors, contributing Eur3.64 billion. The GCC accounted for 45,000 of those visitors, representing a seven per cent increase on the previous year.
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: “The increase in visitor numbers to Ireland from this region, fuelled in part by The Gathering Ireland 2013 and other ongoing marketing activities, is highly encouraging and sets the right tempo for continued growth in 2014.”
The new training platform looks to further strengthen connections and enhance communications between Ireland and travel trade partners in the GCC. The program is free to use and is presented in an engaging online format. The programme is divided across six modules, making eLearning more manageable. Upon successful completion of the programme, travel trade earn either Silver or Gold Ireland Specialists accreditation – which can be printed and displayed in trade offices.
In its launch year, Tourism Ireland hopes to recruit 500 travel agents to sign up to the ‘Ireland Specialists’ programme.
Comments are closed.