Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas will make its debut Ireland with the rebranding of the Marker Hotel in Dublin. The addition of the property will represent the expansion of the luxury brand’s footprint into north-west Europe for the first time.

Over the coming months, Tourism Ireland will be pulling out all the stops to highlight Galway 2020 to its ‘culturally curious’ audience around the world. The organisation’s message is that Galway 2020 will offer international holidaymakers a unique cultural and artistic experience.

Aer Lingus’ inaugural service to Minneapolis-St. Paul, gateway to the Midwest, has taken to the skies, marking the start of the airline’s 16th transatlantic route. Flight EI089 was operated by a Boeing 757, named after the Irish Saint, Saint Otteran.

Tourism Ireland is doubling its marketing investment in China, to €1 million, and will also double its marketing team to 12 over the coming months. The destination aims to grow Chinese visitor numbers to 200,000 by 2025.

Tourism minister Brendan Griffin has launched the 2019 marketing plan for Tourism Ireland in the United States at an event in New York attended by leading tour operators, travel agents and journalists from the tri-State area.

Introducing the first Big Bus Dublin bus to the city, the lord mayor of Dublin, Nial Ring, cut the ribbon alongside Phil Boggon, executive vice president of western Europe at Big Bus Tours.