Friday 13th January 2006: Fáilte Ireland, the national tourism development authority and Tourism Ireland, the overseas tourism marketing agency, today made a presentation with Shannon Development, where they outlined their business plans for the coming year to tourism operators in the Shannon region at a special industry meeting in Limerick.
Mr Shaun Quinn, Chief Executive, Fáilte Ireland, said that the tourism industry was reasonably optimistic about its prospects for the coming year with virtually all sectors expecting as good a year as in 2005 from both domestic and overseas visitors. He welcomed the strong performance of urban areas in the region such as Limerick, but he maintained more effort was required to sustain this growth and to tackle rural tourism. He also indicated that Fáilte Ireland would be increasing its investment in the Shannon Region to €9m million over the coming year for marketing, business supports, training, and supporting the activities of Shannon Development.
Tourism Ireland Chief Executive Paul O’Toole said that seventy-six percent of the Republic’s tourism revenue comes from overseas visitors. Tourism Ireland has set an ambitious revenue target of €4.2 billion for 2006, driven by a projected 8.5 million overseas visitors to the island of Ireland this year. The organisation unveiled its new €50 million, three-year, global advertising campaign which will have an estimated audience of 200 million people per annum worldwide and features images shot in Dromoland Castle, Clonmacnoise and the Cliffs of Moher, as well as other locations around Ireland.
John King Heritage and Tourism Director, Shannon Development said that in 2006 Shannon Development’s priority will be to work closely with Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Ireland and the Region’s tourism interests to capitalise on the potential the greatly expanded range of direct flights into Shannon International Airport, and the West of Ireland, presents for strong tourism growth.
“The Ryanair announcement of four new routes from its Shannon base to Manchester, Wroclaw, Rome and Murcia, will continue to impact positively during 2006. We will continue to work with airlines, Shannon Airport and the Region’s tourism industry to sustain services and maximise this growth. While Shannon Development will increase its overall marketing activity, with a particular emphasis on working in partnership with tourism trade, one significant initiative will be a major focus on the UK and key European markets by the Shannon Region, Ireland West, North West and Tourism Ireland”, said Mr. King.
Shaun Quinn said that Fáilte Ireland will continue to focus on developing all aspects of tourism in the Shannon region. He noted that this is particularly important as trends such as shorter breaks and shorter booking times continue to bite in rural areas. The crucial issue of balanced regional growth may need to be reframed as thinking about rural versus urban tourism. He indicated that Fáilte Ireland was introducing a new Local Area Marketing Fund to support the industry generate additional business in 2006 and 2007. Recognising the importance of the home holidays at regional level, he said that Fáilte Ireland would be investing up to €4 million to sustain the recent remarkable growth in the home market. Fáilte Ireland will also provide additional funding to Tourism Ireland for overseas marketing of the region during the coming year.
“It was encouraging to note that the increase in direct air access from Continental Europe has benefited the region in terms of overnight visitors”, said Shaun Quinn. “Activities and attractions are central to increasing the visitors spend and it is especially important for rural areas to configure their accommodation and activity offering to appeal to Irish and overseas tourists. Fáilte Ireland is committed to developing the offering for our visitors and during 2005 we allocated over €13m to assist in developing various attractions and activities to the Shannon region.”
Fáilte Ireland will continue to invest in attracting tourists to the regions by assisting in product development. This includes developing and promoting looped walks, angling, festivals, cycling routes, equestrian, golfing and water based activities. Additional monies would be made available for the improvement of walking and cycling routes and a new €1 million innovation fund would be made available to industry groups seeking to develop and market new tourism initiatives. One area that is proving to be particularly beneficial is festival development and in 2005 13 festivals in the Shannon region were supported financially by Fáilte Ireland. This included the Shannon International Music Festival, Sionna ’05, the Limerick Springfest and the Surfing Blitz International.
The recruitment and training of people to work in tourism remains a key issue for the industry across all regions. In response, Fáilte Ireland has decided to establish six training workshops in the region in addition to its permanent training facility in Limerick to attract more local people into tourism. The programmes run at these workshops have proved to be extremely popular as a means to providing training relevant to the needs of local employers.
Recognising the particular pressures on small tourism businesses, Fáilte Ireland is also establishing four Tourism Enterprise Networks in the Shannon region across Clare and Limerick as a practical step to helping small businesses address their own development needs.
Commenting on the decision of the Minister for Arts, Sports & Tourism, John O’Donoghue TD, to integrate the Regional Tourism Authorities and Fáilte Ireland, Mr Quinn said that this project was proceeding as planned and was now scheduled to conclude later in the year. He thanked the Regional Authorities for their ongoing co-operation in bringing about the necessary changes which would effectively lead to the provision of a ‘one-stop-shop’ for the tourism industry in the regions with strong regional representation. He said a priority for the coming year was for Fáilte Ireland to work seamlessly with Shannon Development and the wider industry to ensure that its increased budget for the region was invested for maximum commercial advantage.
Outlining Tourism Ireland’s priority action areas for 2006, Paul O’Toole said that improving the distribution of tourism to more rural areas continues to be a key challenge. “In response, Tourism Ireland will adopt a multi-faceted strategy for the accelerated promotion of the regions of Ireland overseas,” he said. “We will invest an estimated €5m specifically to support this strategy and engage in additional, co-operative marketing with all Regions.” Key proposals include:
Outlining the thinking behind the new global ad campaign, Paul O’Toole said: “Ireland as a destination continues to enjoy an extremely positive image but consumers told us that they needed more information about what a holiday in Ireland might involve. Our campaign brings to life, in a warm and humorous fashion, the wide range of holiday choices and activities just waiting to be discovered in Ireland. It is underpinned by a key message – “Great Places and Activities – Brought to Life by Great People.”
Nandi O’Sullivan
Public Relations Manager
Tel: +353 61 710259
Mobile: +353 86-2371510
Fax: 061 363180
E-mail: Click Here