Seville is bracing for a flood of new Irish tourists thanks to Troy Parrott’s move to the city, with sports travel agents getting ‘loads of enquiries’ and preparing tailored packages since the Dubliner joined Real Betis.
asserted
Dubliner → brace → Betis
And tourism authorities in Seville say they are ‘very proud’ that Parrott chose Betis, with Irish football fans ‘more than welcome’ to the Andalusian capital.
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fans → say → capital
Parrott continued his dream start at the Spanish club this week, scoring a beautifully-taken winner against Lille in his Champions League debut on Tuesday.
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Parrott → continue → Tuesday
That followed a winning goal last weekend in his home debut against La Liga giants Real Madrid, just weeks after joining Seville-based Betis.
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That → follow → Betis
Irish football fans are now flocking to support the hero of our most recent World Cup qualifying campaign with sports travel specialists adding Betis to their marketing strategies.
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specialists → flock → strategies
Irish football fans are now flocking to support the hero of our most recent World Cup qualifying campaign after his two goals in a week in Spain's La Liga
Paul Nolan, who works in the sports department at Abbey Travel in Dublin, said enquiries for Betis games have ‘picked up a good bit’ in recent weeks, including for their away league games in football cathedrals like Barcelona’s Camp Nou and Real Madrid’s Bernabéu.
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enquiries → flock → Nou
He told the Irish Mail on Sunday the company would typically get 10 or 12 bookings a season for Betis games, ‘and that’s just down to people wanting to pick a decent city to watch football in [rather than] any affiliation’.
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people → tell → football
The company organises bespoke trips around customers’ requests, but also market-specific packages for the more popular clubs in the UK and around Europe – with Betis about to sit alongside names like PSG, AC Milan and the top Premier League clubs.
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Betis → organise → PSG
‘We’ll have packages up on sale soon enough for all [Betis’s] home La Liga games and Champions League as well,’ Mr Nolan said.
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Nolan → have → games
His girlfriend Lauren Bowry posted photos and videos last weekend of her and the striker’s family celebrating his goal against Real Madrid in a box in the stadium
His girlfriend Lauren Bowry posted photos and videos last weekend of her and the striker’s family celebrating his goal against Real Madrid in a box in the stadium
Aileen Eglington, who does public relations for Cassidy Travel, said the agency has had ‘a load of enquiries’ about Betis, especially after the Real Madrid win last weekend.
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agency → post → win
‘They’ve had loads of enquiries and related bookings, and they have some games online already available.
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games → have → enquiries
But they do all the packages to the league and Champions League features on request as well.
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they → do → request
‘I just think it’s a much-deserved loyalty bounce [for Parrott’s scoring exploits for Ireland].
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it → think → Ireland
It’s brilliant.’
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It → ’ → ?
Stephen Bernie, director of Midlands Travel, told the MoS his company also has taken bookings for Betis trips.
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company → tell → trips
‘We have a link via a partner for official tickets for Betis, so we were able to put packages together.
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we → have → packages
We had one of them going out there with direct flights, two nights hotel, and match tickets for 300 quid.
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one → have → quid
A couple of people jumped on that.
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couple → jump → that
‘We haven’t marketed it as such.
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We → market → it
We’re just fielding requests as they’re coming in.’
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they → field → requests
Inma Guillén from the tourism agency Visita Sevilla told the MoS: ‘In Seville we are very proud of having such a good football player – you can notice which of our two teams I am a supporter of – and of course Irish tourists are more than welcome in our city.’
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tourists → tell → city
She advised that the ‘nice and not so crowded months to visit Seville for someone used to the cold weather’ are January and February.
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months → advise → weather
‘With 3,000 hours of sunshine a year, the warm and sunny temperature invites you to enjoy the outdoors almost all year round.’
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temperature → invite → outdoors
Liam Brady playing for Internazionale
Including Troy Parrott’s poacher supreme goal last weekend, just six Irishmen have found the net against Spanish giants Real Madrid, the most successful club in European football.
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Irishmen → play → football
Michael Robinson (Osasuna, La Liga, 1986/87 season)
Liam Brady (Inter Milan, UEFA Cup, 1984/85 season)
Desmond Kennedy x 2 (Limerick, European Cup, 1980/81 season, scored in both legs)
John Dempsey (Chelsea, Cup Winners’ Cup, 1970/71 season)
The walled city becomes searingly hot in the summer months, with temperatures regularly exceeding 40 degrees.
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temperatures → score → degrees
The official Real Betis club shop in the ancient city was described as ‘full of Irish’ by one tourist this week.
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shop → describe → tourist
Football fan Rory Grace told the MoS he was in Seville last week and dropped into the Real Betis shop in downtown Seville.
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he → tell → Seville
‘The shop is tiny and there were three Irish guys in Celtic shirts, not with each other, in there.
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shop → be → other
I didn’t see the game but I’ll be going back this season to watch one.
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I → see → one
And Parrott’s loved ones appear to be enjoying Spain as well.
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ones → love → Spain
His girlfriend Lauren Bowry posted photos and videos last weekend of her and the striker’s family celebrating his goal against Real Madrid in a box in the stadium.
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her → post → stadium
Parrott’s transfer to Betis is seen as a significant step up from AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands, where he scored 30 goals across the last two seasons.
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he → see → seasons
Betis have performed consistently in La Liga in recent years, and play in the Champions League this season for just the second time in their history.
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Betis → perform → history
City rivals Sevilla FC are more used to success, winning the Europa League a seven times in the past 20 years.
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FC → win → years
With Real Betis playing at the 70,000-capacity Estadio de la Cartuja this season as their own stadium is renovated, tickets are unlikely to sell out.
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tickets → play → Cartuja
Mr Nolan said the main reason to use a travel agent is the ‘minefield’ that is the Spanish fixture list, which is only set in stone a few weeks before a match and can see a game slated for any time across the weekend at short notice.
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game → say → notice
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