What we delivered in 2022

ITOA Membership 2022 Performance Survey Report – ITOA has just released the results of our Annual Membership Performance survey. International Tourism rebounded strongly with ITOA members delivering a stellar performance in a year that was not without its challenges, not least due to supply chain capacity issues and unexpected levels of inflation in energy costs.

ITOA MEET TOURISM NORTHERN IRELAND BOARD AND EXECUTIVE

ITOA Executive travel north to meet Tourism Northern Ireland board and executive

BUDGET 2022 SUBMISSION

ITOA 2022 Budget Submission calls for continued support for Inbound Tourism vitally needed to assist business transition from Survival to Recovery in Q2 next year…..

NEW PRESIDENT APPOINTED – ROB RANKIN VAGABOND TOURS AT AGM IN DROMOLAND CASTLE

Dromoland Castle provided the ideal venue for members to gather for a weekend of meetings, activity and relaxation, and experience the first-class service that the Castle delivers effortlessly to ITOA members clients. This weekend saw outgoing ITOA President Darren Byrne hand over the reins to Rob Rankin, MD of Vagabond Tours.  “I am delighted to […]

SHAMROCKER ADVENTURES’ IRISH TOUR RANKED NUMBER 1 ‘MULTI-DAY TOUR’ IN 2019 TRIPADVISOR TRAVELLERS’ CHOICE AWARDS FOR EXPERIENCES

  London, 4 July 2019 – A three-day adventure offered by Shamrocker Adventures, specialist in authentic Irish tours, has been ranked number one in the ‘Multi-Day Tours – World’ category of the 2019 TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice® Awards for Experiences. These awards highlight the world’s top bookable experiences on TripAdvisor, by category and country, based on the quantity and quality of […]

Ruth Andrews, ITOA Chief Executive, appointed as new Chairperson of ITIC – Irish Tourism Industry Confederation

At the recent ITIC AGM, Ruth Andrews accepts the position of Chairperson of the Confederation

Vagabond Tours – Best Ireland’s Ancient East Tourism Experience

ITOA Members – Winners at the Irish Tourism Industry Awards 2019

ITOA members again feature strongly as finalists and winners in the ITIC Biennial Tourism Industry Awards.

ITOA Members Get Down to Business in Northern Ireland

As part of our 40th Year Celebration, ITOA in partnership with Tourism Northern Ireland had our inaugural Northern Ireland Workshop on November 13th this year.

WINNERS ALL RIGHT @ IRISH TOURISM INDUSTRY AWARDS

The in augural Irish Tourism Industry Awards took place on Friday April 24th last. The event was a terrific success with well over 500 industry professionals attending the glittering Awards Ceremony on Friday night last in the Double Tree By Hilton. An ITIC initiative, the awards were supported in no short measure by ITOA as […]

ITOA WORKSHOPS 2015 – OFF TO A WILD START

ITOA Workshops 2015 got off to a busy and productive start yesterday in Limerick. Just over 220 industry from the length and breadth of the Wild Atlantic Way and beyond attended to meet with all ITOA members. Sue Uda President of ITOA said “we were delighted that so many tourism businesses took the time to […]

A Ringing Endorsement at ITOA Limerick Workshop

Minister for Tourism & Sport Michael Ring visited the ITOA Workshop in the Limerick Strand today where he congratulated the ITOA members and tourism businesses present on their hard work and dedication in delivering the very best experiences to our overseas visitors. He remarked on the enthusiasm of the tourism industry in promoting the Wild […]

ITOA WORKSHOPS LIMERICK STRAND TODAY

Over 250 tourism businesses are speed dating today in Limerick today, meeting all ITOA members to promote and sell their businesses for 2015.  And no doubt the Wild Atlantic Way will be high on the agenda for many of the tourism businesses along the western seaboard as they contract with ITOA members. President Sue Uda […]

Irish Welcome Tours – Wild About Atlantic Way

ITOA member Irish Welcome Tours is delighted to announce that the Wild Atlantic Way is featured on a selection of specifically designed car tours on their car touring website www.tourireland.com IWT welcomes the ‘WAW ‘ as a great permanent initiative for the Irish tourism industry and one which will have a lasting legacy for all areas […]

2014 Budget delivers for tourism

Ministers Noonan and Varadkar delivered for the Tourism Industry yesterday with the announcement of the retention of the 9% VAT rate.  The industry breathed a sigh of relief at the announcement which was first up in the budget and rightly so.  This initiative was introduced in 2011 as part of the stimulus package announced by […]

ITOA Welcomes New Trans-Atlantic Aer Lingus Schedules for 2014

  Aer Lingus announced the long awaited news of their new routes to San Francisco and Toronto for 2014 today and increased frequency to Shannon airport from Boston (from January 2014) and New York (from March 30). From March Aer Lingus will operate with five services per week being operated by Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft […]

Abbey Tours Aquires Moloney & Kelly Tours

ITOA member Abbey Tours is pleased to announce their recent acquisition of the Dublin based company ITOA member Moloney & Kelly Travel. Founded in 1970, Moloney & Kelly Travel is one of Ireland’s longest established destination management companies, specialising in Incentive and Leisure Travel. The business will continue to operate from the current address and […]

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Good Start to 2013 Season – CSO Report

  The CSO provided positive news for the Irish Tourism Industry this week with the release of the stats from March – May 2013 showing an increase of 8.1% on the same period for 2012. The North American markets continues to perform strongly with an increase of 282,300 trips representing a 12.6% growth. Mainland Europe […]

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ITOA Chief Executive Ruth Andrews met with the Japanese Prime Minister

  ITOA Chief Executive Ruth Andrews met with the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, guest of An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, on his brief visit to Dublin yesterday following his attendance at the G8 Summit in Fermanagh. During his visit to Government buildings Ruth joined Niall Gibbons,  Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland in greeting the Prime […]

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Ireland a G8 Great Place to Do Business

  An Taoiseach Enda Kenny has given Ireland’s business tourism sector an extra push this week with the meeting of the G8 in Ireland by appearing in a promotional video outlining Ireland’s strengths as a meeting, conference and Incentive (MICE) destination. With the worlds leaders gathered for their G8 meeting in Fermanagh, our own leader […]

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Congratulations to Catherine Reilly – Brendan Vacations

Catherine Reilly, Managing Director Brendan Vacations Ireland  and Past President of ITOA has recently completed 10 years service as board member of the Irish Tourism Authority, Failte Ireland.  Catherine was appointed to the board of Failte Ireland in July 2003, shortly after the formation of the new Authority in May 2003 and has been one […]

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Meitheal Had Added Advantage (ico) This Year

ITOA member, advantage ico, worked with the Trade Engagement team in Failte Ireland to organise  the networking events for Meitheal at the CCD and The Guinness Storehouse. Failte Ireland appointed advantage ico after a competitive tender process. Services provided to the Failte Ireland Meitheal team included event management, venue selection and liaison, event production, props, […]

Travel Trade Gathering at Meitheal Workshop 2013

300 International Travel Trade, including ITOA members attended this year’s Meitheal Workshop in Dublin on Tuesday 23rd April and Wednesday 24th April 2013. This annual event is one of Ireland’s most important sales and networking event, with 300 international travel trade buyers attending to contract tourism product for 2014 and beyond. Many of the overseas […]

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Vagabond Tours in National Geographic Traveler’s ’50 Tours of a Lifetime 2013′

ITOA member Vagabond Tours are delighted and thrilled at the announcement that their 8 day ‘Wild Irish Rover’ tour has been chosen as one of their top 50 tours of a lifetime by National Geographic Traveler Magazine . Norie Quintos, executive editor of the magazine wrote, “This year marks the 125th anniversary of the National […]

Collaboration – The Key to Growing Business Tourism

A strong turnout of ITOA members active in Business Tourism attended the Business Tourism Industry Briefing in the Aviva Stadium.   Ireland is aiming to build on its position as a major destination in the incentive travel sector, where companies reward employees with trips abroad, and this will be a central focus for Fáilte Ireland’s Business […]

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ITOA member Irish Welcome Tours launches Gourmet food tour with Clodagh McKenna

ITOA member Irish Welcome Tours announced the launch of their new gourmet food tour that has been created with celebrity chef and food writer Clodagh McKenna on their tourireland.com website. Food Tourism in Ireland is booming and people are becoming more aware and interested in Ireland’s food tourism product. Liz Aungier, reservations manager Irish Welcome […]

ITOA Member Abbey Tours Receives Accolade at Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards

ITOA Member Abbey Tours receives gold standard accolade at Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards !  The company was named as one of Ireland’s ‘Best Managed’ companies for the fourth year in a row recently.  The company was recognised at a gala awards dinner in the Burlington Hotel in Dublin on 1 March 2013. The Deloitte […]

ITIC Interview Ruth Andrews About ITOA Annual Survey [Video]

The Incoming Tour Operators Association of Ireland (ITOA) has released the results of their annual survey on the nature, scale and value of the inbound tour operators to Irish tourism. This is the 8th consecutive year in which this survey has been conducted so the ITOA members have experienced many highs and lows over the […]

Ireland is back on the international holiday radar, say Irish Tour Operators

Green shoots for Ireland as inbound tourism businesses experience 19 per cent increase The Incoming Tour Operators Association (ITOA) has released the results of their annual survey on the nature, scale and value of inbound tour operators to Irish tourism. The report, released today, shows that the total gross turnover for the 30 inbound tour […]

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Photos from ITOA 2013 Workshop

The ITOA workshops took place on March 12, 2013 in Limerick, Strand Hotel and March 14, 2013 in Fitzpatricks Castle Hotel. Read more about what the ITOA workshops for the travel trade entail. Read what happened at the Limerick workshop and the Dublin workshop. Here are some photos from the ITOA Dublin workshop.   [nggallery […]

ITOA Workshop in Dublin 14th March 2013

The ITOA workshop Dublin got off the a busy start this morning with over 240 Irish tourism industry businesses arriving at Fitzpatricks Castle Hotel. Gerry Nicholls, President launched the 2012 Members Business Report at the opening of the morning session. A very strong business performance in 2012 by ITOA members was very positively received by […]

2013 ITOA Workshops in Full Swing

ITOA Workshops kicked off today in Limerick. There are over 220 tourism industry businesses attending to sell their products to all ITOA members who will be there to commence contracting for the 2014 season. ITOA Workshops are key sales events in the tourism promotional calendar.  Participants at the Limerick workshops come as far away as […]

Tourism Ireland Marketing Plans Launched Today

Tourism Ireland launched their marketing plans for 2013 today. Ambitious targets have been set in particular for the U.S and GB markets based on the recent strategy launches for both of these markets in the past month.  Highlights included New Ireland.com website – new by design and name, live in the coming weeks The website […]

ITOA WORKSHOPS 2013 – Dates and Locations Announced

ITOA Workshops, a firm fixture on the Irish Tourism Industry trade promotions annual calendar have been announced for 2013. The two annual events are key selling and promotional events for tourism businesses who wish to sell their products in the international markets and through the ITOA travel trade distribution channel are taking place in Limerick […]

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Continued Growth in ITOA Members Businesses in 2012

Following a recent council meeting of ITOA members, President Gerry Nicholls reported that members were generally satisfied with business performance thus far in 2012. Overall members were projecting further growth on the excellent recovery experienced in 2011. President Gerry Nicholls said “ Our 2011 ITOA Member Business Report  [opens in PDF] launched mid-year showed significant […]

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ITOA Welcomes Launch of GB Path to Growth Report

Gerry Nicholls, ITOA President, welcomed the launch of this important report yesterday. The report informed by an exhaustive review of the island of Ireland and its competitors’ performance in the British market was undertaken in the past 8 months by the Tourism Recovery Taskforce which included representatives from Tourism Ireland, Failte Ireland, the Northern Ireland […]

The Gathering Ireland 2013 Initiative Gathers Momentum

Watch this video above for a peek into what to expect during The Gathering 2013. The Gathering Ireland 2013 has been well and truly launched this month. There has been lots of promotional activity on the Gathering Year 2013 by ITOA members through their international travel partners since its initial launch earlier this year.  But […]

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Notre Dame vs Navy US Football Game

A winning performance all round – Notre Dame vs Navy American Football Game The fighting Irish came home on September 1st and had a winning performance all round! Wherever you were on the island of Ireland in the last week of August or first week of September you were sure to meet some of the […]