Pictured: A delegation of tour operators from India with Lyandra D’Souza, Tourism Ireland (right), and baker Fred Strickland (third right), with their freshly baked bread, in the kitchen of Tracey Jeffery, NI Food Tours, in Killinchy.

Seven leading tour operators from India have been visiting Northern Ireland, on a fact-finding tour organised by Tourism Ireland in conjunction with Tourism NI.

The tour operators – based in the cities of New Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad – are here to experience at first-hand what we have to offer Indian holidaymakers. The objective of their visit is to encourage them to extend the Northern Ireland content of their existing programmes or to include Northern Ireland for the first time in their 2017 programmes.

Their action-packed programme included a food tour around the Ards Peninsula, with the opportunity to bake traditional Irish breads in an 18th-century stone barn on the shores of Strangford Lough. The group also spent time in Belfast and travelled along the Causeway Coastal route, stopping off at the Giant’s Causeway as well as various Game of Thrones locations such as Cushendun, Ballintoy and the Dark Hedges.

Huzan Fraser, Tourism Ireland India, said: “Tourism Ireland was delighted to invite these influential tour operators to visit Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland. Working closely with the travel trade is an important element of Tourism Ireland’s promotional activity in emerging tourism markets like India. Fact-finding visits like this provide an excellent opportunity to showcase some of the many things to see and do in Ireland to key travel decision-makers.”