TOURISM IRELAND WELCOMES ROUGE NEWS

Tourism Ireland welcomes today’s announcement that Air Canada will convert its current seasonal service between Toronto and Dublin to a year-round service, beginning May 1, 2014, operated by its new leisure carrier Air Canada rouge. The announcement provides a continued boost for both leisure and business tourism from Canada to the island of Ireland as recent figures show an increase of 4% in 2012, with close to 120,000 Canadians visiting the Island of Ireland. Niall Gibbons (pictured), CEO of Tourism Ireland, said, “The announcement of a year-round service from Toronto to Dublin is wonderful news for tourism to the island of Ireland from Canada. We have worked with Air Canada for many years and we look forward to working closely with Air Canada rouge to maximize the promotion of this flight. As an island, direct, convenient and competitive access services are critical to achieving growth in inbound tourism. Tourism Ireland is committed to working with Air Canada rouge, Dublin Airport and other tourism interests, through co-operative marketing, to drive demand for this service.”The strengthening ties between Canada and Ireland are deep rooted with more than four million Canadians claiming Irish ancestry. In their announcement today, Air Canada identified a very strong market for both leisure customers and visiting friends/relatives in Ireland, which they describe as an “ideal market”for its new Air Canada rouge service. The year-round service will begin May 2014 with five scheduled flights during the summer peak season (reducing to three times per week in the winter months). The route will be serviced by Boeing 767-300ER aircraft. (http://www.ireland.com)