Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons and Peter Baumgartner, CEO of Etihad Airways, launched the Etihad Airways and Tourism Ireland trade incentive during the Abu Dhabi roadshow event at Sofitel, Abu Dhabi Corniche.

The travel trade incentive, which is part of the Etihad Airways SuperSeller programme, encourages agents to sell flights and holiday packages to the island of Ireland. The two top sellers of Ireland will be rewarded with return flight tickets to Dublin to experience the destination first hand.
 
Speaking at the roadshow Gibbons said: “Tourism Ireland estimates that 65,000 visitors travelled to the island of Ireland in 2015, representing an 18 per cent growth in visitor numbers from the previous year. A hugely important factor in growing tourism to the island of Ireland from the UAE has been the availability of direct, convenient and competitive air services to Dublin from Abu Dhabi with Etihad Airways. Etihad has been a great support to us and we are delighted to launch this trade incentive to further promote the island of Ireland. We look forward to Etihad’s continued cooperation and growth in the coming years.”  
 
Baumgartner said: “We greatly value our relationship with Tourism Ireland. This partnership helps develop our services to the Irish market for the benefit of millions of travellers who are keen to explore everything that the island of Ireland has to offer.
 
“By working closely with the trade, we will be able to increase awareness of the range of travel services we offer into Ireland from a wide range of destinations on our global network. Ireland has much to offer both business and leisure travellers, and we look forward to welcoming growing passenger numbers into the country.”
 
The airline has strong links with Ireland and is the sponsor of the GAA Hurling All Ireland Senior Championship and the Etihad Skyline at Croke Park. The airline operates a premium lounge in Terminal 2 and an engineering facility from Dublin Airport. - TradeArabia News Service