Donegal were well represented as more than 16,000 diving and outdoor adventure enthusiasts flocked to DIVE 2016 in the NEC, Birmingham in October to plan their holidays for 2017.
Famous adventurer Monty Halls, who was at the event, was given a special insight into the outdoor adventure opportunities in Donegal. He has expressed a keen interest in experiencing the Wild Atlantic Way and exploring the county.
Donegal County Council in association with Donegal Tourism Ltd took a promotional stand at DIVE 2016 on 22nd and 23rd October 2016 representing County Donegal and the EU funded marine tourism project WILDSEA Europe amongst 250+ exhibitors.
The event was a great success with a huge interest from visitors in wreck diving and nature tourism along our coastline with many visitors looking for new and unique diving experiences in places that offered much more than just diving, but providing a range of experiences to suit all the family. For this reason, Donegal really has it all.
Providing expertise on the subject of diving, Jim Muldowney of Dive Arranmore Charters also attended the event at the Donegal stand and was on hand to tell visitors all about Donegal’s amazing coastal heritage, our world class wreck diving and the beauty of our ocean floor in terms of marine life and marine eco-systems and about sea safari trips along the coast.
Jim is a member of the WILDSEA Europe network promoting sustainable coastal tourism and ocean literacy. Experience providers can find out more about joining the network on www.wildsea.eu
DIVE 2016 was a wonderful platform to promote diving in Donegal, WILDSEA Europe and other marine tourism activities to a targeted audience in both the UK and international markets.
DIVE 2016 gave visitors the chance to network with people from around the world; browse or buy diving equipment, training courses and diving or other marine tourism themed holidays; and gain inspiration from seeing what other divers have been getting up to.
People were looking for new ideas and Donegal proved to be of great interest to those wanting a new experience.
Joy Harron from Donegal Tourism Ltd
DIVE 2016 was a must for targeting divers but the show also provided an excellent opportunity for representatives to meet large numbers of young, active and affluent people who want to experience the great outdoors and to which we showcased that the Wild Atlantic Way in Donegal and the WILDSEA Europe route are both world class marine and coastal wildlife watching experience destinations.
Joy Harron from Donegal Tourism Ltd also had the opportunity to meet famous adventurer Monty Halls and discuss all that Donegal has to offer in terms of our fantastic outdoor adventure opportunities.
Monty Halls is a broadcaster, speaker, naturalist, former Royal Marine, marine biologist, travel writer and leadership specialist.
Joy Harron from Donegal Tourism Ltd. with famous adventurer Monty Halls
His experience covers over two decades of leading teams in some of the most remote environments on earth, presenting wildlife and adventure documentaries, and working with blue chip companies both in the UK and overseas.
Monty was also very interested in the WILDSEA Europe project and said that he would love to visit Donegal in the future to get a firsthand experience of our Wild Atlantic Way, which he would love to explore.
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