Representatives from the Donegal tourism and hospitality sector are in Milwaukee this week targeting the Irish diaspora at the largest celebration of Irish culture and heritage in the United States.
The 38th annual Milwaukee Irish Fest has been taking place in Wisconsin. With a huge audience of around 150,000 visitors, the four-day festival was an ideal opportunity for Tourism Ireland to showcase the island of Ireland as a superb holiday destination.
Pat Breen, Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection, attended the festival, where he met with the Tourism Ireland team and the delegation of Irish tourism enterprises attending this year’s festival – including the Waterfront Hotel in Dungloe, Donegal Airport and Donegal County Council.
Billy Condon, Tourism Ireland; Martina Rafferty, Waterfront Hotel, Dungloe; Minister Pat Breen; Pauline Sweeney, Donegal Airport; Milwaukee politician Erica Flynn; Barney McLaughlin, Donegal County Council; and Ruth Moran, Tourism Ireland, at the annual Milwaukee Irish Fest.
Alison Metcalfe, Tourism Ireland’s Head of North America said: “Tourism Ireland’s presence at this year’s Milwaukee Irish Fest provides another excellent platform to showcase Donegal and Ireland and the diversity of our heritage and culture – and is a good opportunity to invite some of the many people of Irish descent living and working in the US, as well as those with Irish connections or an affinity for Ireland, to come and visit.”
“Visitor numbers from North America are really strong for the first half of this year, up +10.7% on the same period last year. In 2018, we are confident that our strategy – combined with more airline seats than ever before from the US, as well as the strength and competitiveness of the vacation experience right around the island of Ireland – will deliver further growth.”
