It was announced today that One World Trade Center in New York – the main building of the re-built World Trade Center complex in New York and the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere – will join Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening initiative for the first time in 2017.
Tourism Ireland today announced details of some of the famous attractions and sites around the world which will go green to mark St Patrick’s Day this year, kicking off the organisation’s major first half promotional drive to grow overseas tourism in 2017.
The annual initiative, which sees a host of major landmarks around the world turn green for St Patrick’s Day, has grown from strength to strength, with lots of new landmarks signing up to take part this year.
The new landmarks include One World Trade Center, City Hall in London, Heron Tower in London, Plaça de Catalunya and the fountains on Gran Via in Barcelona, Pozzo di San Patrizio (St Patrick’s Well) in Orvieto, the four principal monuments in the town of Cosenza (Calabria), City Hall in Antwerp (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), the Cloth Hall in Ypres, Matsue Castle in Japan, Gwangandaegyo (Diamond Bridge) in South Korea and even a rhino statue in Nairobi National Park, as well as an Ethiopian Airlines airplane in Addis Ababa.
Furthermore, the famous red carpet in Cannes (le tapis rouge lumineux) will become the ‘green carpet’ on 17 March.
The new sites will join some ‘old favourites’ which have gone green in previous years – including the London Eye, Nelson’s Column in London, Selfridges department store in London, the Colosseum in Rome, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Burj al Arab in Dubai, the Roue de Paris, the ‘Welcome’ sign in Las Vegas, Niagara Falls, the Empire State Building in New York, the Sky Tower in New Zealand and the Great Wall of China.
Chicago will be going all out to celebrate St Patrick and Ireland once again this year with numerous buildings and sites across the city set to light up green – including Navy Pier, the John Hancock Center, the Wrigley Building, the Civic Opera House, One Prudential Plaza and Chicago Gaelic Park.
Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development, Joe McHugh said, "The willingness and desire of so many to be involved in celebrating our national day is symbolic of the great friendship and respect that exists between Ireland and so many countries around the world and demonstrates the uniqueness of the St Patrick’s Day celebrations. The celebrations allow us to deepen existing friendships, to strengthen awareness of Ireland and our rich heritage and to forge new ties."
CEO of Tourism Ireland, Niall Gibbons added, "The eagerness of cities and countries everywhere to take part underlines the strength of the deep connection that people all over the world feel to Ireland. More than 70 million people around the world claim links to the island of Ireland and St Patrick’s Day is a truly unique opportunity to reconnect them with their heritage."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
