LONDON's iconic black cab is set to go green this St Patrick’s Day along with the HMS Belfast, Manchester Town Hall and the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow.
The famed British sites and symbols will join a host of other world landmarks around the world like the Pyramids of Giza, Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the Citadel in Jordan among others.
Tourism Ireland’s chief executive Niall Gibbons said the St Patrick’s Day programme will span Britain while Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar described the addition of the new sites as “a major coup”. “Even the Pharaohs are going green this year to mark The Gathering,” he joked.
The Tourism Ireland drive is in its fourth year and in addition to London, taxis will be ‘greened’ to help promote The Gathering in other major Irish population centres like Birmingham and Manchester. The homepage of lastminute.com in Britain will also turn a shade of the emerald for St Patrick’s Day on March 17.
Other newcomers going green for the first time include the famous Welcome sign in Las Vegas, the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, City Hall in Houston, Texas; the Tower of Hercules (a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Galicia in Spain), the futuristic new EYE Film Institute in Amsterdam, the International School in Bonn and the Allianz Arena in Munich, which is home to Bayern Munich football club.
The project is part of Tourism Ireland’s promotional drive to grow overseas tourism this year.
“The eagerness to take part underlines the strength of the deep spiritual connection that people everywhere feel to Ireland – a major boost in this special year of The Gathering Ireland,”added Mr Gibbons.
Tourism Ireland estimates there are 70 million people around the world who claim links with Ireland.
Some old favourites set to go green again!
The Sydney Opera House
Niagara Falls
The Leaning Tower of Pisa
The Prince’s Palace of Monaco
Burj al Arab in Dubai
Table Mountain in South Africa
The Empire State Building in New York
Burg Theatre (City Hall) in Vienna
The Sky Tower in New Zealand
The TV tower in Berlin’s Alexanderplatz
See More: Britain, London, St Patrick's Day
