NEW MARKETS:THE SPANISH tourism board has opened a new office on Westmoreland Street in Dublin, reflecting a huge increase in the number of Irish people visiting Spain in recent years.
Last year some 1.6 million Irish people visited the country, a doubling of the 2001 figure.
Almost a third, or 29 per cent, of Irish visits to Spain were to the Canary Islands, 21.5 per cent to Andalusia and 18.2 per cent to Catalonia.
José Manuel de Juan, director of the Spanish Tourist Office in Dublin, told Go the office is hoping to introduce to the Irish market previously unknown areas of Spain that are now easily accessible thanks to new air and rail connections.
The areas the office will be marketing include northern Spain, from the Basque Country to Galicia, and central Spain, both of which provide new products, such as wine routes, city breaks and language learning.
The office will also be promoting areas for golf tourism, as well as the state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities for conferences and business travel in many cities in Spain.
There are now air connections from Ireland to 18 destinations in Spain.
De Juan stressed that Irish people are still being encouraged to visit the traditional Spanish destinations, many of which have been transformed over the past 10 years.
Joan Mesquida Ferrando, Spain's secretary of state for tourism, who attended the opening, on Tuesday, said Ireland is now the country's eighth most important market in terms of number of arrivals.
"This alone justifies the presence of a tourism office in this country, to efficiently service such a large market in terms of volume. The Irish market is also significant in terms of spend. Irish tourists' spending level in Spain is among the highest of European tourists," he said.
Also attending the opening was the Spanish ambassador to Ireland, José de Carvajal.
The new office will be open to the public from 11am to 2pm. It will take telephone inquiries between 9am and 5pm from Monday to Thursday and between 9am and 2pm on Fridays.
01-6350200, dublin@tourspain.es