Tourism Ireland today announced that the Colosseum in Rome, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Sacré-Cœur Basilica in Paris, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro and Nelson’s Column in London will go green this year to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, as part of the organisation’s seventh annual Global Greening initiative.
The new sites will join some ‘old favourites’ which have gone green in previous years – including the Colosseum in Rome, the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, the ‘Welcome’ sign in Las Vegas, the Allianz Arena in Munich, the Empire State Building in New York and the Sky Tower in Auckland.
This is part of Tourism Ireland's €21.5 million first half promotional drive to grow overseas tourism in 2016.
Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe says, "St Patrick's Day presents a unique and wonderful opportunity to promote Ireland worldwide. From a tourism perspective, it comes at a perfect time when many people are starting to plan their annual holidays.
"The Global Greening initiative is an excellent way to position Ireland in people’s minds and to get them thinking about paying us a visit. People everywhere – even those with no obvious connection to Ireland – demonstrate a strong affinity with St Patrick’s Day, with parades and celebrations taking place in countries right across the world."
Tourism Ireland estimates that its Global Greening and St Patrick’s promotional programmes generate positive publicity worth in excess of €10 million each March.
Source: www.businessworld.ie
