Derry Girls stars Saoirse-Monica Jackson and Jamie-Lee O'Donnell and Bad Sisters actress Sharon Horgan are fronting a new advert campaign to attract tourists to Ireland.
Tourism Ireland hopes the initiative will see the number of holidaymakers return to pre-pandemic levels.
They also hope it will bring “value-adding tourists” which are defined as those who stay longer and spend more in the regions including Northern Ireland and arrive between the high and low seasons.
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In one of the adverts, Bad Sisters star Sharon Horgan is seen walking through the idyllic Irish countryside and mixing with pals.
She says: “I would say this but to me the Irish are the funniest people in the world, everyone is a comedian.
“In Ireland, one of the greatest compliments you can give someone is to describe them as a character because as every writer knows, it’s the characters you remember, long after the story.”
The advert campaign will go live on St Patrick’s Day in Ireland’s top four tourism markets – Great Britain, the United States, Germany, and France.
It will then be rolled out in nine other important tourism markets around the globe.
Tourism Ireland also announced they have a marketing budget of €78 million this year to bring more holidaymakers here at an event yesterday.
Speaking yesterday, Tourist Minister Catherine Martin said: “I want to commend Tourism Ireland for the comprehensive marketing strategy they have put in place for 2023.
“In particular, I welcome the focus on embedding sustainability across all its activities, the increased consideration of the environmental impacts of tourism and the focus on increasing representation of holidaymaker diversity.
“International travel to Ireland rebounded strongly in 2022, but the sector continues to face significant challenges, therefore it is vital that we continue to invest in overseas marketing and the additional funding of €15 million that I secured in Budget 2023 will enable Tourism Ireland to significantly ramp up its promotion of Ireland as world-class tourism experience in key markets.”
Outgoing Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons, who will step down in April, said last year their priority was to restart the tourism sector and said at the end it stood at around 75 per cent of levels in 2019.
He explained: “Throughout 2022, we undertook our most extensive programme of promotions ever to bring Ireland to the attention of travellers everywhere.”
“Thousands of opportunities were created for potential visitors around the world to read, hear or watch positive messages about Ireland in 2022.
“Tourism Ireland estimates that the media exposure last year was worth an estimated €610million in equivalent advertising value.
“Our latest wave of research confirms that the desire to travel is stronger than ever.
"As we move to the rebuild phase of our strategy for overseas tourism, our aim is to drive business to the regions, ensuring the benefits of tourism are distributed right around the island of Ireland, on a year-round basis.”
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