When rich Shanghai tai-tais meet this summer to compare holiday notes, they will find new words in their vocabulary - like Liffey, the river that flows through Dublin.
The first group of tourists leaves Shanghai for Ireland's capital on April 19 and will first spend four days there, followed by six in England, at a cost of 18,500 yuan each.
The tour is possible because Ireland and Britain have signed an agreement with China for 'approved destination status' - the last two countries in the European Community to do so.
As a sign of how important Ireland regards the Chinese market, officials will be on hand at Dublin airport to greet the new arrivals. 'Chinese are the second-highest-spending tourists, after the Japanese and ahead of the Americans,' said Irish consul Nicholas O'Brien. 'We are working with tour operators to raise the awareness of the country.'
Tourism Ireland has opened an office in Shanghai, launched a Chinese website and invited Chinese tour companies and media to visit, to show what the country has to offer.
In China, Ireland is best known for its culture and literature. The Chieftains, who played on the Great Wall in 1984, were one of the first western music groups to tour China, while Riverdance was staged last year in Beijing and Shanghai. Among intellectuals, the country is famous for winning four Nobel prizes for literature. But for Shanghai's tai-tais, if they know Ireland at all, it is probably as a destination for their children to study.
