~ Tourism Minister Catherine Martin and Tourism Ireland welcome latest Lonely Planet accolade ~
~ Tourism Ireland rolls out promotional campaign around the world to maximise Lonely Planet accolade ~
Dublin has been named the seventh best city in the world to visit in 2022 by Lonely Planet. The leading travel media company unveiled the accolade today (Thursday, 28 October) in the prestigious Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2022 – its collection of the world’s hottest trends, destinations and experiences for the coming year.
With 2022 marking 100 years since the publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses, Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2022 will encourage visitors to follow in the footsteps of Leopold Bloom, with a stroll around the city to see its architectural and cultural delights.
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, said: “I would like to congratulate the beautiful city of Dublin on being recognised as one of the best cities to visit in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2022. This is a wonderful accolade for the city and very well deserved. It has been such a difficult period for our tourism industry and this is a timely reminder that Ireland and in particular Dublin remains a world class holiday destination. I would like to encourage all domestic and international tourists alike to visit Dublin and mark the centenary of the wonderful book “Ulysses” from one of our many literary icons James Joyce and follow in the footsteps of the uniquely Irish Leopold Bloom.”
Welcoming the news, Niall Gibbons, Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “The inclusion of Dublin as the Number Seven City in the world in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2022 is wonderful news and will surely help to inspire travellers everywhere to put Dublin and Ireland on their holiday wish-list for next year. As we restart tourism from overseas, it is another well-deserved accolade which will help position us well for 2022 and create ‘stand-out’ against competitor destinations. I would like to thank Lonely Planet for the wonderful support they have shown the island of Ireland over the years.”
Dublin city is described in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2022 as “one of Europe’s most down-to-earth and friendly cities”. It mentions Dublin’s “Georgian squares, traditional pubs and warm people” and it goes on to say that “modern Dublin still has all the appeal of the city in Joyce’s day plus a host of compelling contemporary reasons to visit now”.
As we restart tourism from overseas, Tourism Ireland will take every opportunity to maximise this accolade for Dublin and Ireland, over the coming weeks and months. Activity to spread the good news will include:
- a new video highlighting the accolade and Dublin city; click here to view;
- a specially created page on Tourism Ireland’s international website, Ireland.com;
- extensive social media activity, including posts and news on Facebook (Tourism Ireland has 4.6 million fans worldwide), Instagram (over 1 million followers) and Twitter (535,000 followers);
- a major PR and publicity push to top travel and lifestyle journalists around the world; and
- highlighting the accolade at major travel fairs like the upcoming World Travel Market in London, the largest B2B event in the global travel and tourism calendar.
Tourism Ireland recently launched its new ‘Green Button’ global campaign, to re-start tourism and encourage as many overseas visitors as possible to book Ireland for their next short break or holiday. Tourism Ireland will leverage the Lonely Plant accolade to complement that message and encourage people around the world to ‘press the Green Button and discover Dublin’.
The island of Ireland has been particularly successful in the prestigious Lonely Planet’s ‘Best in Travel’ accolade over the years. Previous accolades have included the Burren Ecotourism Network being named a ‘Best Community Tourism Project’ for 2021, Galway being declared the fourth best city in the world to visit in 2020, Belfast and the Causeway Coast named the Number One Region in the world to visit in 2018, the Skellig Ring drive being named a Top Ten Region to visit in 2017, Dublin named the third best city in the world to visit in 2016 and Ireland being declared the fifth best country in the world to visit in 2015.
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland; and Catherine Martin TD, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, at the announcement that Dublin has been named the seventh best city in the world to visit in 2022 by Lonely Planet.
Top ten cities in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2022 are:
- Auckland, New Zealand
- Taipei, Taiwan
- Freiburg, Germany
- Atlanta, USA
- Lagos, Nigeria
- Nicosia/Lefkosia, Cyprus
- Dublin, Ireland
- Mérida, Mexico
- Florence, Italy
- Gyeongju, South Korea
