Tbilisi will 'go green' for St. Patrick’s Day

Irish tourists have been recommended to visit Georgia as Tbilisi City Hall was named among a selection handful of world famous locations to go green for St. Patrick’s Day on March 17.

Irish tourism agency Tourism Ireland announced that along with Tbilisi City Hall, the Colosseum in Rome, the Sacre-Coeur Basilica in the fabled district of Montmartre overlooking Paris and the Grand Ole Opry (the show that made country music famous) in Nashville would 'go green' for the first time ever this year in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, as part of the organisation’s sixth annual Global Greening initiative.

The announcement that some of the world’s most famous attractions and sites would 'go green' to mark St. Patrick’s Day kicked off Tourism Ireland’s major first half promotional drive to grow overseas tourism in 2015.

Tbilisi was decided to join the Tourism Ireland’s annual Global Greening, which sees a host of major landmarks and iconic sites around the world illuminated in green for St. Patrick’s Day, during Tbilisi Mayor Davit Narmania’s Dublin visit.

Tbilisi government believed this decision would increase the number of Irish tourists in Georgia.

Meanwhile the other sites to go green include the Niagara Falls, the London Eye, Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro and Sleeping Beauty’s castle at Disneyland Paris.

Meanwhile other locations that will be illuminated in green for the first time this year include Porte de Bourgogne in Bordeaux, the Jumeirah Etihad Towers hotel, Abu Dhabi, the Town Halls of Munich and Bamberg, the Christ the King statue in Lisbon and the Fram polar exploration ship in Oslo.

Tourism Ireland recommended Irish tourists to visit the places named on the list.

See the full list of the 'going green' locations here.

Ireland's Minister for Transport and Tourism Paschal Donohoe said the global greening would help raise awareness of Ireland as a visitor destination in key overseas markets.

St. Patrick's Day is a cultural and religious celebration occurring annually on 17 March, the date of the death of the most commonly-recognised patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick.