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Saturday, June 18, 2011

Waterford is gearing up for Irelands biggest quayside festival as the city once again hosts the start of the Tall Ships Race. Up to 500,000 people are expected to join the fun from June 30th to July 3rd when live music, two colourful parades, a sumptuous food village, interactive craft village, fringe festival, markets and stalls take centre stage alongside 50 tall ships, most of which will be berthed in the heart of the city. A dozen larger tall ships will mostly be berthed on the north side of the River Suir, across from the city centre. Ships will be open to visitors from 10am to 4pm (Thursday-Saturday), though this may vary from ship to ship. The international fleet of Tall Ships, from 12 countries, will sail with more than 1,400 professional crew and trainees from Waterford to Greenock, Scotland. Later host ports for the Tall Ships Race are Lerwick, Shetland Isles; Stavanger, Norway and Halmstad, Sweden.

Tall Ships Race

Ireland on PR blitz in Germany

PAUL CULLEN and RONAN McGREEVY MINISTER FOR Tourism Leo Varadkar and his minister of state Michael Ring have started a promotional blitz in Europe to boost visitor numbers. Mr Varadkar travelled to Frankfurt this week to meet German tour operators and air carriers with direct services to Ireland. During his visit, the minister restated the Governments commitment to tourism as a driver of recovery and appealed to the industry to respond to tax and other concessions for the sector in recent initiatives. With its economy booming, the number of tourists coming to Ireland from Germany rose 11 per cent in the first quarter of the year, according to the CSO. Unlike in Ireland and Britain, where online booking dominates the market, the Germany tourist market is still controlled by a small number of tour operators and travel agents. Mr Varadkar attributed the reversal of the decline seen in recent years to a re-engagement by Tourism Ireland with the travel trade in advertising in Germany since 2009. Germany is the worlds largest outbound travel market with 76 million travellers each year and over half of the population takes at least one holiday outside of Germany each year. Almost 380,000 German tourists came to Ireland in 2010. Restoring the British market to growth remains the Governments main priority this year, said Mr Varadkar. However, although Britain is our largest market for tourists, with almost 2.8 million visitors last year, the average spend of tourists from Germany is greater. Mr Varadkars trip to Frankfurt follows a similar visit to the UK in the spring while Mr Ring has gone to New York to beat the drum for Irish tourism and plans to visit Paris in September. Meanwhile, only one in 10 Germans has visited or is likely to visit Ireland though over half rate it favourably as a holiday destination, new research suggests. Amarch Research carried out a survey of attitudes of Germans to Ireland since the economic crisis started. Germany is Irelands third biggest tourism market after the UK and US attracting 380,000 visitors in 2010. Tourism Ireland spent 2.5m on TV campaigns in Germany to attract visitors.

TOURISM

Planes of the future are not for the

IRPLANE manufacturer Airbus has looked into the crystal ball and unveiled new designs for the aircraft of 2050 which it will unveil at next weeks Paris Airshow. Forget the traditional divisions of first class, business and economy. These will be replaced by zones offering

The number of items delivered daily to the Unclaimed Baggage Center, a department store in Scottsboro, Alabama selling the contents of unclaimed luggage from airports around the world. The shop is a tourist attraction thanks to its quirky goods that can include anything from uncut diamonds to best-selling books.
On the cover Coumeenole Beach on the Dingle Peninsula. Photograph: Hugh Rooney

7,000

Skylight: a concept Airbus with see-through fuselage. Photograph: Airbus/PA

Google cleans up

tailored levels of relaxation including a space where you can practise your golf swing as well as computer work stations. Mood lighting will make passengers feel better and, instead of being squeezed into a one-size-fits-all seat, they will be enveloped in one which moulds to their body. The seat will not only apply

Major tourist sites should have free

BRIAN OCONNELL TOURIST SITES across the country should offer free Wi-Fi access to visitors, according to Senator Catherine Noone who said it would encourage visitors to upload pictures of their visit to online social networking sites, and suggested that installing Wi-Fi infrastructure at our Staff from Google cleaned up Bettystown beach this week, helping the Global Kiter Foundation to make Meath a better place. The Barrow St gang filled 43 rubbish bags. For the best of clean beaches in Ireland see P10 100 most popular tourist sites would not require major investment. The internet could be housed at canteens or ticket kiosks at many locations, would be very cheap to implement and could provide a hugely lucrative return, Ms Noone said. It would show that, while we have natural beauty and beautiful old architecture, we also have the right ideas about technology mixing the best of the traditional and the new. Of Irelands top tourist attractions, not all provide Wi-Fi access to visitors. There are no plans to introduce any form of Wi-Fi at the Cliffs of Moher visitor centre in County Clare or at Bunratty Castle and Heritage luxury resort is offering sun and sand, pool butlers and poolside pampering. The offer starts at $515 (364) per night. Or stay in a roof terrace, penthouse or multi-bedroom suite for a minimum of three nights and get a fourth night free. These rooms are more expensive with two-bed ocean view suites in high season from around $660 (467) a night. Catch: offers available until September 28th and are not combinable. Take note: Las Ventanas is part of Ty Warner Hotels & Resorts (rosewoodhotels.com). IF YOURE around Wexford next Saturday Wexford Day is offering free entry into some of the countys attractions, including Dunbrody Famine ship and Duncannon Fort. See visitwexford.ie. Found a freebie on holiday? Tell me about it. E-mail emorgan@irishtimes.com

ITS A FREE WORLD

EDEL MORGAN

Ferry nice deal for kids

of Pleasure Beach, where guests can rub shoulders with famous Nick characters such as SpongeBob SquarePants, and Dora the Explorer. Catch: only the rides are free. Take note: wristbands must be purchased online using code 11201 and be bought at the same time as at least one childs wristband. Offer applies to gate priced wristbands. See pleasurebeachresort.com. IRISH FERRIES and Stena Line are letting kids under 16 go free with a family taking Hannah McQuillan, Cain McHugh, Daniel McHugh and Ruairi McQuillan launch kids-go-free deals with Stena and Irish Ferries their car. In the case of Irish Ferries, the offer applies until August 31st on cruise and fast ferry services from Dublin to Holyhead and Rosslare to Pembroke. Stena has car fares from 119 (single) for car and driver (Rosslare- Fishguard) or from 129 (Dublin-Holyhead) or from 119 (BelfastStranraer). Theres also free Wi-Fi. Offer ends June 26th. Catch: offers dont apply to any reserved seating on board. Take note: irishferries.com or stenaline.ie. LAS VENTANAS al Paraiso, a Rosewood Resort in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico is offering four nights for the price of three if you stay in a roof terrace, penthouse or multi-bedroom suite. The

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LACKPOOL Pleasure Beach is offering fathers a free day out on Fathers Day tomorrow. Fathers get an unlimited ride wristband if accompanied by at least one full paying child. Test his nerves on Infusion, the worlds first five looping suspended roller coaster over water. Experience the views and thrills of the The Big One roller coaster then turn his world upside down on Pleasure Beachs classic looping coaster, Revolution. Fathers can also go on 12 rides for nothing at Nickelodeon Land, a new area