(l to r) David Boyce, Tourism Ireland; Louise Curry, Fermanagh Lakeland Tourism; Cate Murdock, Hillsborough Castle; and Susan Smith, National Trust Giants Causeway at Tourism Ireland’s B2B workshop and networking event in Glasgow.

Showcasing Hillsborough to Scottish travel professionals.

A delegation of tourism businesses from Northern Ireland was in Glasgow recently, taking part in Tourism Ireland’s first promotion of 2017 in Scotland – a B2B workshop and networking event with key travel professionals.

In all, 25 tourism businesses from Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland – including hotels, visitor attractions, ferry companies and regional tourism organisations – had the opportunity to meet with influential Scottish tour operators and travel agents, as well local travel and lifestyle journalists. The annual event provides a valuable platform for the participating companies from Northern Ireland to network and win business for the year ahead.

Vanessa Markey, Tourism Ireland’s Head of Great Britain, said: “I am delighted that so many of our tourism partners from Northern Ireland joined us in Glasgow, highlighting our tourism offering to influential Scottish tour operators and travel agents. Great Britain is our largest tourism market and we were delighted to see visitor numbers increase by +10% for January to June 2016, almost +60k more GB visitors compared with the same period in 2015. We are determined to ensure that tourism growth continues.”

Tourism Ireland’s workshop and networking event was timed to coincide with Celtic Connections, Scotland’s premier winter music festival, so it was also a good opportunity to highlight our music and culture, important components of the holiday experience in Northern Ireland, particularly for our ‘culturally curious’ audience.

Vanessa Markey continued: “Music and culture are key components of the holiday experience in Northern Ireland, so platforms like Celtic Connections help us to spread the word about Northern Ireland as a premier destination with an appealing cultural offering. Our message is that there has never been a better time for Scottish holidaymakers to come and see that for themselves.”