--- description: Tourism Ireland released a video it hopes will attract Star Wars fans to an island off an irish Coast used in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" title: Ireland Wants 'Star Wars' Fans to Visit Location Used in New Movie image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc113e3713c4994c2/69887779ab6d77058d6a7cf5/skellig-michael.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Ireland Wants _Star Wars_ Fans to Visit Location Used in New Movie by [Lauren French](/author/lauren-french/) ## Lauren French Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 4, 2016 10:44 PM CUT  The Skellig Islands. The Skellig Islands.Brian Lawless—PA by [Lauren French](/author/lauren-french/) ## Lauren French Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 4, 2016 10:44 PM CUT Tourism Ireland has released a video it hopes will attract Star Wars fans to Skellig Michael, an island off the coast of Kerry used as a location in the box office blockbuster _Star Wars: The Force Awakens._ The video shows film director J.J. Abrams and other crew members discussing why the team chose the UNESCO World Heritage Site as a film location. “I remember when we all flew in, it was special and we knew it,” executive producer Tommy Harper said in the video. [TheJournal.ie reports](http://www.thejournal.ie/star-wars-skellig-michael-tourism-2529919-Jan2016/ "undefined") the video will be shared around the world. The campaign comes despite concerns last year that filming at Skellig Michael would damage the island’s ecology, although government officials said there was [no substantial damage.](http://www.thejournal.ie/skellig-michael-start-wars-visit-2369352-Oct2015/ "undefined") Tourism Minister Paschal Donohoe said Skellig Michael’s appearance in _Star Wars: The Force Awakens_ exposed the island’s beauty to “potentially hundreds of millions of people.” “By the end of November 2015, we had surpassed our best ever year on record for the number of overseas visitors,” Donohoe said. “We are determined to build on that.” Skellig Michael will also feature in the next film of the series, [which will be released in 2017](http://time.com/4164754/star-wars-movie-release-dates/ "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4166951/star-wars-ireland-tourists/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4166951/star-wars-ireland-tourists/"},"headline":"Ireland Wants Star Wars Fans to Visit Location Used in New Movie","datePublished":"2016-01-04T22:44:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:46:04.306Z","description":"\"I remember when we all flew in, it was special and we knew it\"","url":"https://time.com/4166951/star-wars-ireland-tourists/","keywords":["Ireland"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc113e3713c4994c2/69887779ab6d77058d6a7cf5/skellig-michael.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lauren French","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lauren-french/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc113e3713c4994c2/69887779ab6d77058d6a7cf5/skellig-michael.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Star Wars filming in Ireland","caption":"Star Wars filming in Ireland","creditText":"Brian Lawless—PA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4166951/star-wars-ireland-tourists/","name":"Ireland Wants Star Wars Fans to Visit Location Used in New Movie"}}]}] ```