A GROUP of Northern Ireland ‘ambassadors’, including local chef Noel McMeel, undertook a promotional blitz in the southern American states of Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee this week.
The trip is part of Tourism Ireland’s ongoing programme of activity to target people of Ulster-Scots descent.
Award-winning chef Noel McMeel, musician and composer John Anderson, genealogy specialist Gillian Hunt and noted historian Alister McReynolds, together with Tourism Ireland, brought positive stories and great news about Northern Ireland to key media and travel contacts over the last week – in the southern US cities of Atlanta, Charlotte and Nashville, Belfast’s ‘sister’ city.
A series of interviews with influential media, sales calls and networking events with top travel contacts, including a reception with the Sister Cities Association in Nashville also took place as part of the trip. Noel McMeel, executive chef at the Lough Erne Resort in Enniskillen, and food expert Judith McLoughlin, originally from Northern Ireland and now based in Atlanta, showcased the best of Northern Ireland food – with cooking demonstrations on the Tourism Ireland stand at the Stone Mountain Games.
Tourism Ireland also reminded visitors to the Games that the Lough Erne Resort has been named on the ‘Best Hotels for Winter 2014-2015’ list, on the hugely popular Huffington Post website – which has about 65 million readers in the United States.