Club Tourism Inc, one of the leading travel agencies in Japan, will bring the first direct flight from Asia to Ireland this August, with 240 Japanese flying to Dublin on a charter flight operated by Japan Airlines. Senior representatives of Club Tourism Inc and Tourism Ireland attended an event in Tokyo on June 23rd, hosted by the Irish Ambassador to Japan, Anne Barrington. Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons undertook a series of engagements with key decision-makers in the Japanese travel sector, including the president of JATA (Japan Association of Travel Agents), which has 1,000 travel agency members around Japan, the director of the Japan Tourism Bureau, the official agents for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, and senior representatives of Miki Tourist, one of Japan’s top travel agents. In 2016, Ireland welcomed approximately 20,000 Japanese visitors to the island of Ireland. Screen tourism – and, in particular, our connections with Star Wars and Game of Thrones – has helped raise the profile of the island of Ireland in Japan in recent years.