DUBLIN, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Dublin, the Irish capital, has turned red for the Chinese New Year.
A ceremony was held here on Sunday night to launch the red lighting of The Mansion House, an official residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin since 1715, to celebrate the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb. 5 this year.
Nial Ring, Lord Mayor of Dublin, hosted the ceremony which was attended by Chinese Ambassador to Ireland Yue Xiaoyong, Irish Ambassador to China Eoin O'Leary and Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland Nial Gibbons among other guests.
"The Mansion House is a very historic building where a hundred years ago this month Ireland's first parliament met. It is now related to colours and celebrations of the Chinese New Year. So I think it's a wonderful idea and I wish the Chinese New Year all the best for this year and the years to come," said Irish Ambassador to China O'Leary, adding that a number of landmark buildings will be lighted red.
Nial Gibbons told Xinhua that the relationship between Ireland and China is going from strength to strength.
"Last year we welcomed over 90,000 visitors from China to Ireland and tourism is becoming more and more important. We were very excited last year by the fact that it was the first time we got direct flight access by Hainan Airlines from Beijing to Dublin and also Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong to Dublin. And we are excited about the new service by Hainan Airlines from Shenzhen which will start in February 2019. So we feel we will have much more to look forward from tourism perspective," he said.
The year 2019 is the 40th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Ireland and China as well as the 20th anniversary of the debut of the Irish "River Dance" in China. Tourism Ireland will celebrate the the 20th anniversary of the River Dance in Beijing in September, he said.
"We Tourism Ireland look forward to welcoming many many more Chinese visitors in 2019 and beyond," Gibbons noted.
Lighting the city red for the Chinese New Year first started in Dublin in 2016 with lighting on some government buildings. Now many other landmark buildings in the city, such as Guinness Storehouse, Convention Center Dublin, department store Brown Thomas and five-star Westin Hotel, have participated.
Each year during the Chinese New Year period, the red lightings of these buildings have become an attraction for both local and overseas tourists.
