Kerry tourism gets German showcase

KERRY has a strong presence at Europe’s largest consumer travel show, The CMT Fair in Stuttgart, this week.

It is the first time tourism businesses from all over the county will be represented together at the nine-day show and it is part of a new aggressive marketing approach by the Destination Kerry Tourism Forum and Kerry County Council to attract more European visitors.

“The expansion of the continental European market is a key objective of the new Kerry County Tourism Strategy and Germany is the major player there,” said Joan McCarthy, Head of Tourism Development at Kerry County Council.

Germany is Ireland’s leading continental European market and has been growing steadily in recent years with 630,000 visiting in 2015, up 13 per cent on the previous year. Tourism Ireland is projecting a further increase this year.

Almost half of all German visitors visit the South-West and Kerry is their preferred regional holiday destination.

Kerry County Council recently hosted a visit by TUI, Germany’s largest tour operator, which is seeking to expand its Irish business.

The Ryanair flight from Frankfurt-Hahn to Kerry Airport has proved to be a major success for Kerry tourism and there will be additional direct flights from Germany to Shannon and Dublin during 2017. Kerry Airport is currently pursuing new direct routes from Northern Germany for 2018.

The Destination Kerry stand is part of a large Tourism Ireland display and is located next to the Star Wars exhibit which is attracting a lot of interest.

Tourism trade representatives from Killarney, Tralee, Dingle, Kenmare, Ballybunion, Castleisland, the Ring of Kerry, North Kerry, Skelligs Coast, Valentia, and Kerry Airport are part of the delegation.