The world goes green for Ireland on St Patrick’s Day

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 seventh annual Global Greening initiative, new ‘greenings’ for 2016 will include 7 World Trade Center at Ground Zero in New York, the famous Big Wheel on Place de la Concorde in Paris, the light rail system in Addis Ababa and City Hall in Tel Aviv.

Minister for Transport, Paschal Donohoe said Tourism Ireland’s unique global campaign kicks off a €21.5 million first half promotional drive to grow overseas tourism in 2016.

 “St Patrick’s Day presents a unique and wonderful opportunity to promote Ireland worldwide,” the minister said.

“From a tourism perspective, it comes at a perfect time when many people are starting to plan their annual holidays.

“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.

“This is supported by broadcast, print and online media, ensuring widespread publicity for Ireland at minimal cost.”

The minister added: In fact, Tourism Ireland estimates that its Global Greening and St Patrick’s promotional programmes generate positive publicity worth in excess of €10 million each March.”

Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, added: “This is the seventh year of Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening initiative.

“Every year I am delighted to see even more well-known attractions and landmark sites wishing to get involved and join our St Patrick’s celebrations.

“The success of our Global Greening initiative is due in no small part to the great work that has been carried out across the world by Irish people down the generations.

“In particular, there is the great support we’ve received from the Irish embassy network and the Diaspora.

“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,” Mr Gibbons added.

“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.”