Going Green for St Patricks Day
To aid a huge tourism push for Ireland, many of the world’s most famous sights will undergo a makeover and literally turn green on St Patrick’s Day in a bid to boost Ireland’s tourism. Some of the sights to undergo this colour change include the Pyramids of Egypt and Rio de Janeiro’s Christ The Redeemer statue.
Other sights that will be illuminated emerald on Sunday 17th March 2013 will be: the Sydney Opera House in Australia, Niagara Falls in Canada, the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy, the Burj al Arab in Dubai, Table Mountain in South Africa, the Empire State Building in America and Berlin’s TV Tower in Germany.
The Irish Times have also said that the ‘Welcome’ sign in Las Vegas and the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen will also have a green glow about them on St Patrick’s Day. They are also looking at arranging for Buckingham Palace in London to turn a shade of emerald but as yet, The Queen has not given the go-ahead.
Those in charge of boosting Ireland’s tourism had hoped that the visit to the country by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh two years ago would provoke a rise in visitor numbers from the UK but this has not been the case. In fact, visitor numbers to Ireland have dropped by 3% since last year. One of the main reasons could be that Ireland is perceived as being an expensive place to visit but this is not the case according to Ireland’s tourism minister, Mr Varadkar who says that hotels and other accommodation options are particularly good value for money. They are waiting for this message to filter through to the holidaymakers which in turn will hopefully increase visitor numbers to Ireland – that’s the plan anyway!
The entire ‘greening’ scheme which will include the Sky Tower in New Zealand, the Burg Theatre in Vienna and the Prince’s Palace in Monaco will cost around £29,400 so if you’re in any of the locations mentioned, keep your eyes peeled as your favourite sights could be changing!