Visit Portugal Road Show takes off in Dublin
Carlos Pinto de Oliveira (Director of Visit Portugal Ireland) led a delegation of 23 Portuguese travel and tourism suppliers to promote their products and services to the Irish travel industry at a very well attended roadshow held in the Hyatt Centric Hotel Dublin. The next stop for the roadshow tour is Limerick to be followed by Cork. The Dublin event was a great opportunity for the visiting Portuguese team of professionals to network with many Irish travel agents and tour operators through speed dating sessions lasting 8 minutes. Travelbiz.ie features editor Declan Mescall was there to bring you the photos and the story.
The evening kicked off with a reception and buffet dinner showcasing popular Portuguese national dishes with fine wines and was followed by a very informative speech by Portugal’s ambassador to Ireland H.E. Bernardo Lucena who told us more than half a million Irish holidaymakers visited Portugal in 2023, that’s about 10 % of the population of Ireland, and an increase of 14.7% on the previous year. The Irish market is now Portugal’s 10th largest and generates 1,098 million euros which makes it the best performing country per capita.
Portugal boasts excellent flight connectivity with Ireland from the 5 gateways of Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Kerry and Knock to Faro, Lisbon and Porto with 115 flights weekly by 3 airlines during the summer months. Traditionally the Irish holidaymakers tended to look to Portugal for sun & sea, family holidays and golf but recently there is an increasing demand for city breaks, culture, active tourism, gastronomy and wines.