Petra and Disneyland Paris among new sites to go green on St Patrick’s Day

Other first timers in the Global Greening initiative – which is being run for the fifth time in 2014 – include the Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo; Canada’s Whistler ski resort; the Rhine Falls near Zurich; the Evoluon Eindhoven in the Netherlands; a number of sites in Chicago – including Soldier Field stadium (home to the Chicago Bears team), the Trump International Hotel & Tower and the Wrigley Building and Millennium Park; four skyscrapers in Philadelphia – including the second, third and fourth-highest buildings in the city; Kaprun Castle in Zell-am-See and the Skiwelt Söll (ski resort), both in Austria; the Petřín Lookout Tower in Prague; the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai, India; the new SSE Hydro in Glasgow; and Hannover Town Hall.

The new sites will join a number of global landmarks that have gone green in previous years and will do so once again this year, including the Pyramids in Egypt, the ‘Welcome’ sign in Las Vegas, the Sydney Opera House, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the London Eye, Table Mountain in South Africa, Niagara Falls, the Empire State Building in New York, the Prince’s Palace in Monaco, the Allianz Arena and Odeonsplatz in Munich, the Sky Tower in New Zealand and the Cibeles Palace and fountain in Madrid.

“From the iconic site of Petra in Jordan, to Niagara Falls and Table Mountain, St Patrick’s Day will be celebrated by Ireland’s friends all over the world,” said Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore. “Tourism Ireland and our embassy network deserve great credit on making the Global Greening initiative such a success. Each and every greening is an expression of friendship as well as an open invitation to come to visit Ireland.

“St Patrick’s Day is a unique and unrivalled annual opportunity to promote Ireland worldwide, particularly in terms of tourism, but also to encourage people to study and invest in Ireland, and to showcase Irish companies, products, services, food and drink. The Tourism Ireland Global Greening initiative will complement the broader trade and investment-focused programme of ministerial travel for the 2014 St Patrick’s Day period, which will be announced shortly.”

“This is a great way to get the world talking about Ireland on St Patrick’s Day,” said Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar. “It’s a simple idea with minimal costs, but it’s also an incredibly effective marketing strategy. It gets Ireland on to front pages around the world, at a time of year when people are planning their summer breaks.

“We will also be greening landmarks at home this year and I expect to make an announcement on those very shortly.”

“The addition of the Treasury in the ancient city of Petra, a Unesco World Heritage Site, is a major success; and in this year of the Winter Olympics, it’s also very fitting that we welcome the Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo, Whistler in Canada and the Skiwelt Söll in Austria to our annual Global Greening,” said  Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland. “The addition of the Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland Paris is also noteworthy as it is the first time we have aligned with an iconic consumer brand, which will help bring our Global Greening to new audiences.”