Tourism Ireland

Two popular travel bloggers, from Great Britain and the Netherlands – with a combined following of more than 500,000 people – took part in a unique adventure challenge around Lough Finn in Co Fermanagh recently. The bloggers, Paul Steele and Naline Roodbeen, then shared their experiences on social media, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, as well as through their blogs, The Bald Hiker and Stop and Stare. Placing the power into the hands of their followers, the bloggers were asked to engage in a series of activities which included swimming, climbing, trail running, surfing, mountain biking and kayaking – giving them a real chance to experience, and then showcase, the ‘wild’ side of Fermanagh and the North West of Ireland. Followers who shared and voted on the challenges, were in with a chance of winning a weekend break at the Finn Lough cottages and the opportunity to take part in some of the various activities described by the bloggers.

A 14-page fashion spread, shot in Wicklow this summer, features in the current edition of StyleBy, a popular fashion magazine in Sweden, with some 50,000 readers per edition. Tourism Ireland in the Nordic region invited the StyleBy models and crew to stage their autumn fashion shoot in Wicklow, last July. The resulting feature appears under the headline “better in tune with the infinite” and includes lots of wonderful photos of the Wicklow National Park, including Lough Tay. • Tourism is the island of Ireland’s largest indigenous industry; responsible for in excess of 4% of GNP in the Republic of Ireland and employing approximately 200,000 people.