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Finnish travel blogger

Satu Vänskä-Westgarth pictured receiving a warm Kinsale welcome as she completed the “challenge of her lifetime,” cycling the entire 2,500km coastal route of the Wild Atlantic Way over the past five weeks. A guest of Tourism Ireland, she was welcomed at the finish line with a delicious seafood platter and glass of bubbly by celebrity chef Martin Shanahan! Also pictured are her friend Kate Cornfield from the UK and Ciara Carroll of DAA/Cork Airport, who joined Satu on the final leg of her journey, Hal McElroy, Kinsale Chamber of Tourism & Business, and Kevin Cullinane, Head of Communications, Cork Airport.
Pic: Diane Cusack
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TOP TRAVEL BLOGGER COMPLETES ‘WILD ATLANTIC WAY’
CYCLE CHALLENGE IN KINSALE
Finnish travel blogger Satu Vänskä-Westgarth received a warm Kinsale welcome as she completed the “challenge of her lifetime,” cycling the entire 2,500km coastal route of the Wild Atlantic Way over the past five weeks. She was welcomed by Cllr. Alan Coleman, Mayor of Cork County, Hal McElroy of Kinsale Chamber of Tourism & Business and Martin Shanahan of Fishy Fishy Café who presented Satu with a delicious seafood platter and glass of bubbly!
Satu was a guest of Tourism Ireland and was joined on the final ‘West Cork’ leg by her friend Kate Cornfield from the UK and Ciara Carroll of DAA/Cork Airport, gateway to the Wild Atlantic Way. She enjoyed her final week and leg of the Wild Atlantic Way by exploring Dursey Island, Glengarriff, Cape Clear, Union Hall and Kinsale and is looking forward to a relaxing weekend in Kinsale before heading home to her family in Lillehammer in Norway.
She has been cycling approximately 100 kms each day, five days a week, and then taking the weekends off to rest. She began her odyssey in Donegal, in early August, and since then has visited almost every corner of the West of Ireland.
Satu has been documenting her five-week journey, with daily updates on her Destination Unknown travel-blog, as well as on the popular online magazine, Skimbaco Lifestyle. Tourism Ireland has set up a dedicated page on its website, Ireland.com, about Satu’s adventure – which she has named “Ride Wild 2014”. Readers can also follow Satu’s journey on her social media profiles, as well as on Tourism Ireland’s Facebook page and Twitter stream (using hashtag #RideWild2014). Already, her adventure has sparked the interest of the travel media in her adopted country, Norway – with an article appearing on the popular travel website boarding.no.
Aileen Hickey, Tourism Ireland’s manager in the Nordic Region, said: “Satu’s five-week cycle is a really effective way of engaging with people through social media, sparking their curiosity about the Wild Atlantic Way. She has been sampling some of the many activities on offer along the route – from surfing to sea kayaking, hiking to horse-riding. Her blog is extremely popular and she has been posting lots of great photos and details of her cycle online – as she explores the towns and villages of the Wild Atlantic Way and inspires her readers to come and discover this part of Ireland for themselves. Blogs and social media are recognised as strong influencers for prospective holidaymakers and we regularly work with them in promoting the island of Ireland.
“The most recent figures available from the CSO show that we welcomed almost 100,000 Nordic visitors to Ireland in the first six months of this year. Tourism Ireland has an extensive programme of promotional activity under way throughout 2014 – to keep that momentum going.”
This is just one element of Tourism Ireland’s extensive programme of promotions to highlight the Wild Atlantic Way around the world this year. The Wild Atlantic Way is being promoted by Tourism Ireland across a range of platforms including TV, print and online advertising; on Ireland.com and through social media channels; at major international consumer and trade fairs; through familiarisation visits for influential travel agents, tour operators, as well as travel and lifestyle journalists and bloggers from around the world; and through Tourism Ireland’s promotional material and brochures.
-ENDS-
Photography from Kinsale issued by Diane Cusack Tel: 086-060 8108
Further media information:
Jackie Dawson Kinsale Chamber of Tourism & Business Tel: 086-2446544 jdawson@eircom.net
Sinéad Grace, Tourism Ireland Tel: 087-685 9027 sgrace@tourismireland.com