Kilkenny goes Dutch! New campaign to attract more visitors from Netherlands

By COLIN BARTLEY

TWO popular Dutch food and travel influencers are exploring Kilkenny this week in an effort to attract more visitors from the Netherlands to Ireland.

Simone van den Berg (aka Simone’s Kitchen) and Jody Mijts (aka OngewoonLekker) took in some of Kilkenny’s finest eateries and attractions, such as Kilkenny Castle, Highbank Orchards in Cuffesgrange, Jerpoint Abbey in Thomastown and Knockdrinna Farmhouse in Stoneyford.

The two have been brought here as part of an initiative by Fáilte Ireland called the ‘blogger relay’, which sees a steady flow of popular Dutch bloggers and social influencers coming to Ireland, to ensure an ongoing ‘buzz’ and conversation on social media in the Netherlands about the Emerald Isle. The idea is that each visiting blogger ‘passes the baton’ to the next blogger, tagging them and sharing the same hashtags.

Simone and Jody have a combined online audience of almost 212,000 followers. In 2018, 247,000 Dutch visitors came to Ireland.