Fáilte Ireland has appointed over 350 business owners, managers and staff to become Wild Atlantic Way Champions across the coastal route, in counties Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, Clare, Galway, Cork and Kerry.
The new ‘Champions’ all recently received an official certificate and specially commissioned badge to acknowledge their participation at special workshops for the scheme. The initiative seeks to empower local operators as they set out to ensure that visitors will stay just a little longer in an area, spend more and recommend the Wild Atlantic Way globally.
Explaining the importance of the Wild Atlantic Way Champions, Fáilte Ireland’s Fiona Monaghan, Head of the Wild Atlantic Way, emphasised:
“The Wild Atlantic Way Champions initiative seeks to harness the commitment and passion of local tourism operators and assist them to deliver the best possible visitor experience. Through a mixture of a warm welcome, a smile, real knowledge of their local area and a genuine interest in what visitors want, we believe our Champions can really help us maximise the potential of the route locally.”
By the end of the training course Wild Atlantic Way Champions will:
• Explain the Wild Atlantic Way brand promise and Fáilte Ireland’s plans for 2016
• Identify who the visitors to your area are, prepare for and anticipate their needs
• Demonstrate how to cross sell and motivate visitors to stay longer
• Be more confident, more professional and more effective when using cross selling and upselling techniques
• Increase product knowledge by being more familiar with the tourism attractions, activities and festivals and events in their area
• Use the tips and tools to deliver a visitor welcome workshop in their own business.
One of the Wild Atlantic Way champions, Ethan Brennan from the Radisson BLU Hotel & Spa in Galway, added:
“I found my participation in the Wild Atlantic Way Champions Workshop to be a very informative experience which highlighted the hidden gems of the Wild Atlantic Way. I felt that very valuable information was provided and I look forward to sharing that with the team at the hotel. This information will help us in providing our guests with a very memorable experience of Galway and the west of Ireland. Also, the workshop was a great networking event to meet with other local business and learn more about their product. I would highly recommend this workshop to others on the Wild Atlantic Way.”
Fáilte Ireland invited business owners, managers and staff to become a Wild Atlantic Way Champion earlier this year and the workshops were held all along the Wild Atlantic Way, from Donegal to Cork. The response to the initiative has been extremely strong and more workshops – creating more champions - will be planned for later in the year.
Follow us on Twitter @Fáilte_Ireland
ENDS
For further information please contact:
Catherine Whelan – Communications Department
087 6449572/01 8847181
Jump to top