Lonely Planet declares Donegal the fourth best region in the world to visit

October 25, 2023

Tourism Ireland launches promotional campaign to capitalize on Lonely Planet accolade for Donegal

Donegal has been named the fourth best region in the world to visit in 2024 by Lonely Planet, ahead of places like southern Thailand, the Swahili Coast in Tanzania and Montana in the United States. The leading travel media company revealed the accolade today (Wednesday October 25) at the prestigious Lonely Planet’s Best Trip 2024 – its collection of the world’s hottest trends, destinations and experiences for the year to come.

Donegal is described in Lonely Planet’s Best Trip 2024 as having “Europe’s highest cliffs at Sliabh Liag, 601m above sea level, and miles of unspoilt coastal walking trails along the Wild Atlantic Way”. The guide also says that “Its ancient forts, musical traditions and rich Irish language heritage also make it an immersive experience for the curious visitor.”

Welcoming the news, Alice Mansergh, Chief Executive Designate of Tourism Ireland, said:“It’s truly fantastic news that Donegal has been named the fourth best region in the world to visit in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2024 rankings. This will surely help entice international travelers to put Donegal and Ireland on their holiday wishlist for next year. This is another well-deserved distinction that will help position us well for 2024 and stand out from competing destinations. I would like to express my thanks to Lonely Planet and congratulations to all the tourism and hospitality providers in beautiful Donegal.

Tourism Ireland will take every opportunity to maximize this distinction for Donegal and Ireland over the coming weeks and months. Activities to spread the good news will include:

• a major public relations and advertising campaign with top travel and lifestyle journalists from around the world;
• in collaboration with travel photographers Hannes Becker (1.9 million followers on Instagram) and Jonas Fellenstein (108,000 subscribers on Instagram), who will be sharing great content about Donegal;
• lots of promotion on social media, including posts on Facebook (Tourism Ireland has 4.7 million fans worldwide), Instagram (over 1.1 million followers) and Twitter (563,000 followers);
• a page on the international Tourism Ireland website, Ireland.comwith the Lonely Planet The best of travel logo; And
• highlighting this distinction at major travel shows like the upcoming World Travel Market in London, the largest B2B event on the global travel and tourism calendar.

The island of Ireland has been particularly successful in the prestigious The best of travel from Lonely Planet distinction over the years. Previous accolades include Dublin being declared the seventh best city in the world to visit in 2022; the Burren Ecotourism Network was named “Best Community Tourism Project” for 2021; Galway being declared the fourth best city in the world to visit in 2020; Belfast and the Causeway Coast named the world’s top region to visit in 2018; the Skellig Ring Drive was named among the ten most visited regions in 2017; Dublin was named the third best city in the world to visit in 2016; and Ireland was declared the fifth best country in the world to visit in 2015.