Screen Tourism 

Film and TV are recognised as strong influencers on prospective visitors and in recent years – given that the island of Ireland has provided the backdrop for many popular films and TV shows – there have been many opportunities for Tourism Ireland to leverage this area.

2024 screen tourism opportunities have included the Netflix film Irish Wish, which was filmed on location at Kilruddery House and Lough Tay in County Wicklow, Westport and the Cliffs of Moher. Tourism Ireland’s activity included a media visit to filming locations, which generated significant coverage in Great Britain, with a reach of 3.2 million. We also generated lots of coverage in international media outlets from the distribution of two press releases, which reached around 7 million. 

In the spring, beautiful footage captured in Wicklow, Achill Island and Dublin wowed viewers of season two of The Tourist. Tourism Ireland created a short behind-the-scenes film, in which Jamie Dornan (who plays Elliot), Danielle Macdonald (who plays Helen) and Sarah Hammond (executive producer) talked about filming in Ireland and how spectacular it was. We shared the behind-the-scenes film with our millions of fans and followers on social media.

West Cork, Wicklow and Dublin featured in the Netflix comedic thriller Bodkin. To celebrate the fact that the series was filmed entirely on location in Ireland, Tourism Ireland created a short behind-the-scenes film to highlight our stunning scenery and to remind people that Bodkin was shot on location here. 

In the summer, Tourism Ireland unveiled a new video to coincide with the launch of season three of Vikings: Valhalla on Netflix, which was partially filmed in Ireland. The behind-the-scenes film from Tourism Ireland was fronted by English actor Leo Suter (who plays Harald Sigurdsson), who reminded viewers that the series was filmed on location in County Wicklow and shared some of his favourite places to visit in Ireland, as well as the activities he enjoyed during his downtime during filming here.

Screen tourism opportunities leveraged by Tourism Ireland in 2023 included opportunities around popular movies and TV shows filmed here, such as The Banshees of Inisherin, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Vikings: Valhalla and Derry Girls. 

The campaign to leverage the success of The Banshees of Inisherin saw Tourism Ireland – in conjunction with Searchlight Pictures – create a short, behind-the-scenes featurette, or video, using footage shot during filming. In creating the featurette, Tourism Ireland’s aim was to highlight the stunning scenery of the West of Ireland and to remind cinema goers overseas that The Banshees of Inisherin was shot on location here. The campaign ran on YouTube in 12 countries: the United States, Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Canada and Australia. There were 29 million completed views of the featurette.