Boston Irish Tourism Association

Michael and Colette Quinlin are co-founders of the Boston Irish Tourism Association. A cultural tourism company that connects the Irish community to New England’s tourism industry while promoting travel between Boston and Ireland. 

The company celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025. It represents more than 50 marketing partners in the New England market, including Tourism Ireland, Aer Lingus, Delta, Newport, RI, Live Nation, and the John F. Kennedy Library, while promoting dozens of grassroots Irish cultural venues and retail stores in New England. 

The Association publishes Travel & Culture magazine three times a year, and its website, irishboston.org, is a portal for tourists seeking travel ideas for New England and Ireland. It oversees Boston’s Irish Heritage Trail, a three-mile walking tour of the city’s history. It is currently creating a statewide initiative to feature 140 public landmarks relating to the Irish experience in Massachusetts. Other initiatives have included a Gaelic Gourmet Chefs Series and a Genealogy Guide to Family History.

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, Mike’s mother is from Charlemont, Co. Armagh, and his father’s family emigrated from Ireland to Pennsylvania in the 1850s. Mike began his career in scholarly publishing in New York City and Cambridge and has led communication projects for MIT’s Advanced Engineering Studies, Boston City Hall, the Boston Harbor Cleanup, and the state’s tourism division. He studied at LaSalle University, the School of Irish Studies in Dublin, and Boston University. Serving on the National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Council (NDECC) and U.S. Department of Commerce District Export Council, Mike is the author of several books, including Irish Boston and Classic Irish Stories.

Colette is originally from Borrisokane, Co. Tipperary.  She spent several years in the hospitality and tourism industry in Sydney, Australia, before moving to Boston in 1991, where she worked in public relations at John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company. She later joined John Hancock’s sports marketing team, where she worked on the Boston and New York City marathons, the Olympic Gymnastic pre-trials, and various sports marketing events. Colette studied at Maynooth College, Emerson College, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Simmons College, and Northeastern University, where she completed a web master’s program. She manages several websites and is the project director of Travel & Culture magazine.