Tourism Ireland launches new Ireland.com site

Tourism Ireland has launched Ireland.com, a new web site that provides Canadians with a new, one-stop shop for information on Ireland. Representing a complete redevelopment of Tourism Ireland’s online presence, the new international web site is rolling out in 30 markets around the world. According to officials, Ireland.com has been redeveloped to deliver a transformed web experience for Canadian’s planning a vacation in Ireland. Changes to the site include: an enhanced experience for visitors to the site – with more than 1,700 images, less crowded pages and much greater ease of navigation; social media connections and sharing tools are a key feature, embedded on every page, encouraging users to “like”and share with their friends; a huge volume of original and engaging content which is very current and brings “new news”about Ireland, to help fuel that social sharing and ensure more traffic to the site; special offers and packages featured throughout the site. The site has been specifically designed with touch-based tablets in mind (when Tourism Ireland’s previous web site, discoverireland.com was launched in 2006, mainstream social media, smartphones and other tablet devices did not exist). Speaking about the launch of Ireland.com, Jayne Shackleford, manager of Tourism Ireland Canada said, “Ireland.com will not only provide essential information for travellers, but opens a new window to Ireland for our expanding online community and network of friends across Canada. In the year where The Gathering Ireland invites Canadians to over 2,500 festivals and events nationwide; in addition to the wonderful UK City of Culture program in Derry-Londonderry, Ireland offers unlimited cultural, adventurous and uniquely Irish experiences for vacationers. We’re delighted that Ireland.com will help Canadians embrace the opportunity to visit Ireland in 2013 and beyond.”