The island of Ireland was showcased to some 40 top tour operators from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland – during Tourism Ireland’s 2017 Nordic trade workshop, which took place in Stockholm.

Eighteen Irish tourism companies took part in the workshop, meeting and doing business with the Nordic tour operators, to encourage them to extend their Ireland offering, or to include Ireland for the first time, in their brochures and programmes.

A key message highlighted to the tour operators was ease of access from the Nordic Region to Ireland, including the new SAS Stockholm to Shannon which will operate twice weekly, from August until mid-October 2017, providing a very welcome boost for tourism from Sweden to the West of Ireland.

A separate event in Stockholm – called ‘Experience the Wild Atlantic Way’ – was organised by Tourism Ireland in conjunction with Bord Bia and was attended by leading Swedish food and travel journalists. Guests sampled smoked salmon from the Burren Smokehouse and Kelly Oysters from Galway Bay and were entertained by Bunratty Castle musicians and entertainers.

Aileen Hickey, Tourism Ireland’s Manager for the Nordic region, said: “The Nordic Region is an important market for tourism to the island of Ireland and we will roll out an extensive programme of promotional activity throughout 2017, to grow Nordic visitor numbers. We were delighted to have the opportunity to highlight the new SAS Stockholm to Shannon flight to our trade and media partners here in the Nordic Region. As an island destination, the importance of convenient, direct, non-stop flights cannot be overstated – they are absolutely critical to achieving growth in inbound tourism.”

For more information on Tourism Ireland click here.