TOURISM CAMPAIGNTheir Discover Ireland's Wonderful West campaign is part of a €3 million marketing fund announced by the Government in January.
Almost €2.5 million of the money is being spent in the US, giving Tourism Ireland's New York office $3.6 million worth of advertising aimed at consumers in the five cities with direct air services to Shannon: New York, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta and Philadelphia.
"We are facing the most difficult trading conditions for business from the US that we have had for many years," said Paul O'Toole, Tourism Ireland's chief executive.
Mr O'Toole made a fleeting appearance on NBC's influential Today show on Thursday to extol the west of Ireland's virtues. The Bunratty Singers, who have been entertaining American visitors for 45 years, assembled in Rockefeller Plaza in New York to lend vocal support.
About a million US visitors came to Ireland last year. US visitors stay longer and spend more money in Ireland than any other group.
Tourism Ireland says the Wonderful West campaign is not about increasing tourism to the Shannon catchment area, which runs from Co Kerry to Co Donegal, but about keeping the business, and the air routes, that it does have.
"We are trying to show people that there is value to be had despite the dollar, which is why we're using the line 'Ireland: Can you afford not to go?' " says Joe Byrne, head of North America at Tourism Ireland, who adds that offers include a week in a castle hotel for less than $1,300 (€840).
Some hotels are offering dollar-guaranteed rates, allowing tourists to lock in the price at the time of booking, protecting them from further weakness in their currency.
Exhibitors at a Tourism Ireland trade fair held at the New York Palace hotel, off Madison Avenue, this week were mostly sanguine. "You have to be prepared to play the price game," said Peter Loughnane of the family-run County Arms Hotel in Birr, Co Offaly, who carried 300 rubber ducks in his luggage to give away to local media and travel operators.
"We'll still get the same numbers, but only because we're prepared to adjust our price. I'm not overly concerned, but if I was Adare Manor [the five-star hotel and golf resort, in Co Limerick] I might be a little more worried."
The dollar is "the big challenge", said Anita Higgins, Adare Manor's general manager. But the US industry is positively disposed to Ireland. "The US travel media like to write about Ireland. A picture of Adare Manor sells magazines."