Speech at a Tourism Promotional Event
Four Seasons Hotel, Shanghai, China, 11th December 2014
Thank you for the kind introduction, Consul General.
Ni hao dajia.
It is a great pleasure to be here in the wonderful city of Shanghai, and to have this valuable opportunity to speak of the value we in Ireland attach to tourism exchanges between China and Ireland.
China and Ireland have much in common. We are both ancient civilisations stretching back over five thousand years. Both our cultures vest great importance in family and in extending warm hospitality to guests, indeed as I have experienced at first hand on this State Visit. In Galway there is a Chinese New Year celebration; here there is a Féile Shanghai and an Irish Dance Feis on St Patrick’s Day. Chinese visitors will always be very welcome in Ireland, and I am confident that Irish people feel very much at home there.
In Ireland we are aware of the powerful global reach of tourism, and of its importance to international perceptions of our country. We are always pleased to hear of the positive experiences related by our overseas visitors, and pleased that the things these visitors value and cherish about Ireland have not changed. Our beautiful landscapes, our rich musical tradition, and the warmth, affability and wit of the Irish people: these are the key attributes that provide memorable encounters and uplifting experiences for visitors from abroad.
We are determined to take great care of this immense resource of esteem the Irish enjoy globally. We are also aware that what we offer tourists is not simply an idealised image of Ireland, or a commodified version of Irishness. At the heart of any tourist’s best experience lie real encounters. We want people from across the world to continue to visit our island again and again, experiencing the genuine hospitality that lies at the heart of the Irish community. We understand the relationship of the visitor and the visited as quite a moral one, drawing on trust, friendship, and the care of the stranger within an ethic of hospitality.
We were very particularly delighted, earlier this year, to be selected as the destination which offered the most potential for Chinese tourists at the annual Best Destination Awards here in China. On accepting the award in Shanghai, Tourism Ireland stated their commitment to increasing the number of Chinese tourists to Ireland to 50,000 per year, over the next five years, from a figure of 17,000 in 2012. That is a great indication of the increasing and deepening connection that is building between our two nations.
There is, of course, a very active team at the Ireland House in Shanghai assisting with these connections, and I would like to commend them for all they do to assist Chinese people who wish to visit Ireland every year.
We are convinced that the British-Irish Visa Scheme will greatly facilitate visits to our shores and hope it will encourage more Chinese citizens to visit our islands. What is means is that from now on, Chinese travellers with a short-stay visa from either country can visit both the United Kingdom and Ireland on a single visa, making travel easier and more attractive than ever. Visitors to Ireland from China will be able to move readily between the two countries and across the island of Ireland, between Northern Ireland and the South, on a single visa.
Through this scheme, the Irish and UK governments are inviting you to visit our beautiful and historic lands, to come and experience the best that we have to offer.
With more and more students travelling in both directions, with Mandarin being taught not only in universities and in technological institutes but also in second level schools, we now have the opportunity to visit each other drawing on a knowledge of language, history and culture in the widest sense.
Already, our Consul General and his team have done so much to make Ireland accessible to people from China and I thank and commend them for that. May I also express my gratitude to everybody in Tourism Ireland whose hard work and expertise, ensure that visitors to our island experience the best possible welcome.
Sabina and I have greatly enjoyed meeting you all today and the very generous welcome we have received. Thank you very much indeed.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh – Xie Xie dajia.