THE Mayor of Kerry, Cllr Pat Leahy has led the tributes to the Kerry Bus On Tour Team who made a celebratory return to the Kingdom today after one of the most successful tourism promotion campaigns the county has ever seen.

Cllr Leahy said: “I’m delighted to welcome back the Discover Kerry Bus following its month long promotional tour of Britain and Ireland. Tourism is vital to County Kerry and the decline of 1.3 million British visitors to Ireland since 2007 was a major concern to us as 1 in 4 British visitors come to Kerry. The promotion was aimed at the major UK population centres with easy access to Kerry:  London, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool as well as smaller cities and towns en route.”

He was joined by fellow elected members and staff of Kerry County Council for a special reception at County Buildings in Tralee to herald the return of the double-decker bus which has been involved in a major campaign to promote tourism to the British market.

The Mayor paid tribute in particular to the Bus Tour Manager Thys Vogels and the All Kerry tourism co-ordinators who staffed the bus as well as the Kerry trade who travelled over to participate in the various promotions.

“I have been involved in the tourism industry in Ireland for over a decade and in all that time I have never seen such a positive response to a marketing campaign such as the Kerry Bus On Tour. We have reached a huge potential market directly through the trade events that we attended in Birmingham and London as well as thousands of potential tourists who will strongly consider coming to Kerry for a short or long break this year.” said Thys Vogels, the Tour Manager.

Present at today’s welcome home event were children from CBS Primary Tralee and representatives of the various organisations who have contributed in no small way towards making the tour of Britain and Ireland a success. The large crowd was entertained by well-known group Spailpín.

The Kerry Bus will travel around Kerry today before ending the promotion with a two-day visit to Limerick.

The tour was funded and supported by Kerry County Council, Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland, All Kerry Tourism, South Kerry Development Partnership, Collarbor8 Interreg Programme, North & East Kerry Development, Holiday Tralee, Dingle Peninsula Tourism, Swing Golf, Kerry Airport and Ballybunion Development Company.

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