Irish Heritage Trail

Formed in 2000, the Boston Irish Tourism Association promotes the Irish-American community year round to the travel and tourism industry. We work closely with the state's grass roots organizations and mainstream cultural institutions to showcase the state's culture, history and heritage.

Our goal is to make it easy for visitors and local residents to easily get immersed in the state's wonderful range of cultural activities, and to take advantage of the hospitality amenities available to travelers.

Some of the things we do at BITA:

– Our Irish Heritage Trail walking tour takes visitors and school groups along nearly 300 years of the Irish experience in Boston and its neighborhoods. In total, we have compiled over 70 Irish landmarks throughout Massachusetts.
– Our booklet, Finding Your Irish Roots in Massachusetts, guides you through genealogy resources throughout the state.
– We maintain the web site for the Patrick S. Gilmore Society (www.psgilmore-society.org), to celebrate the life and works of this amazing composer, musician and showman who immigrated to Boston from Ballygar, County Galway.
– We maintain the web site for the Boston Irish Famine Memorial (www.boston.com/famine), a landmark along the Irish Heritage Trail unveiled in June 1998 to commemorate the Irish Famine of the 1840s.
– We distribute three magazine issues a year – the Irish Food & Culture Guide each March, and the Travel & Culture Guide each June and November, to visitor information centers throughout the state for travelers to take.
– We provide information to the general public, tour operators, incoming convention groups and the media about upcoming events and activities of our members.
– We advise visitors on where to stay, where to dine or to shop, where to have a pint, see a concert, check out a traditional session, and how to get from Boston to the Berkshires, or from Canada to the Cape. If you have a question, send us an email, call or write us and we'll try to answer it for you.
– We profile scores of musicians, dancers, artists, writers, storytellers, filmmakers, chefs, photographers and others who help fuel the creative economy in Massachusetts.
– We represent and provide information on other destinations such as Ireland, Quebec City, Prince Edward Island and New Hampshire, all of which share a common interest in culture and hospitality.
– We strengthen travel ties among the United States, Canada and Ireland by working closely with government agencies and travel specialists.
– We host an Irish Food & Culture celebration each March that brings select master chefs from Ireland, Northern Ireland and Canada to Boston, where they join with local chefs for a week of culinary events in hotels and restaurants.
For more details, visit www.IrishMassachusetts.com