Tourism plans for the West of Ireland discussed

Fáilte Ireland in the West, the body responsible for developing tourism in the region and Tourism Ireland, the body responsible for promoting the island of Ireland overseas, met with the tourism industry interests in Mayo and Galway to outline their plans for developing and promoting tourism in the region over the 2008 season.
Attending the meeting, Mr Shaun Quinn, Chief Executive of Fáilte Ireland said the fundamentals underlying tourism in the region remained relatively healthy although more investment would be necessary for sustained growth over the longer-term and that Fáilte Ireland would be making additional investment funding available. Turning to the coming season, Mr Quinn said that while 2007 appeared to have been a relatively good year for the region, conditions in 2008 could be more difficult in light of economic challenges internationally. “We cannot ignore the potential impact of stock market volatility and exchange rate movements on our business but it is much too early to speculate on any impact at this stage. We can only strive to offer the very best value we can and make every effort to minimise costs without compromising on quality.” He noted that in the home market, which was important in the region, there was potential for further but more modest growth rates to be achieved.
 
Commenting on Fáilte Ireland plans for the coming season, he said that the priorities were to almost double investment in new and existing tourist attractions and related infrastructure and to provide more practical business supports to tourism enterprises. This should include helping the industry to develop more overseas business and ensure that strong web presence is in place. However, while the tourism authority is cautious about 2008, recent research from Fáilte Ireland has indicated that the tourism industry is very optimistic about its prospects for the year ahead with nine in 10 accommodation providers believing that their overseas business this year will be at least as good as or even better than in 2007. Mr Quinn also indicated that Fáilte Ireland is to launch its biggest ever ‘Discover Ireland’ campaign, which aims to encourage Irish people to take a break at home.
 
Tourism Ireland Chief Executive Paul O’Toole said that overseas tourism contributed an estimated €2.4 billion in revenue to the regions outside Dublin last year, representing 61% of the total revenue generated from overseas tourism.  “2007 was another good year for overseas tourism and in particular for the Western Seaboard, with preliminary figures showing a good increase in overseas visitor numbers to the region. Tourism Ireland remains focused on growing tourism to all regions and this year we will invest an estimated €5 million specifically on additional co-operative marketing campaigns with Regional and Industry partners overseas. On a cautionary note, Paul O’Toole pointed to a challenging year ahead for overseas tourism. “Global economic uncertainty, the weak dollar and a softening in consumer confidence generally all make for a more difficult business environment. Every year brings new challenges and I am confident that, working in close partnership with Fáilte Ireland and the industry, we can overcome these hurdles and succeed in growing tourism to the island of Ireland again in 2008. It will be more important than ever, however, that our tourism product and service is top class and above all that the consumer gets good value for money,” said O’Toole.
 

Ireland West

Preliminary figures for overseas visitors in 2007 suggest that Ireland West experienced above average growth with an approximate seven per cent increase on 2006. Mr Quinn acknowledged the region’s average performance in the domestic tourism market where total domestic visitors increased by two per cent on the previous year. Shaun Quinn said, “The spatial development of tourism across all regions continues to be a key priority for Fáilte Ireland. We are continuing to invest significantly in upgrading and expanding the range of tourist attractions and activities across regions to broaden visitor appeal. This is necessary in order to ensure that the long-term development of tourism in Ireland is secure. The new regional tourism strategy, which was launched in the West in October, provides a road map setting out how all of the industry, including both the public and private sectors, can most effectively contribute to the further development of sustainable and economically beneficial tourism.”
 
During 2007, Fáilte Ireland launched its Tourism Product Development Strategy, whereby the agency will invest €137m in capital investment projects. Since its launch, Fáilte Ireland has invested over €2m in tourism infrastructure and facilities in the West including a canal walkway in Galway City, improvements to beach facilities in Mayo, and access for angler developments in Mayo. As part of the new cycling strategy a number of hub towns have been created with the support of local authorities and the assistance of NDP Infrastructure Grants. Work is currently underway in developing day and half day signed looped routes in a number of centres around the country including Westport and Achill Island in Mayo.
 
In addition over 50 new walks were constructed and marked and have been uploaded on the Fáilte Ireland website with downloadable maps. These walks, which include Letterfrack, Carnacon, and Derrada, Co. Mayo, have been developed with the assistance of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. The promotion of festivals throughout the country continues to be a focus for the tourism authority and during 2007, over €300,000 was allocated to more than 40 festivals across both Galway and Mayo. This included the Galway Arts Festival, the Salthill Airshow, the Clifden Arts Festival, the Galway Comedy Festival, the Boyle Arts Festival, and the Clarenbridge Oyster Festival.
 
The recruitment and training of people to work in tourism remains a key issue for the industry across all regions. In 2008, we are operating a temporary centre in Clifden (for culinary skills). Locally run programmes have proved to be extremely popular as a means of providing training relevant to the needs of local employers and have proven to be successful in encouraging more local people into tourism. Fáilte Ireland will also provide financial support for 467 students in the Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology who are pursuing accredited skills courses in tourism and hospitality. Continuing on from its success in 2007, Fáilte Ireland will run four Tourism Learning Networks in the Ireland West region. The networks will also be expanded to facilitate the tourism enterprises that participated in 2007 and will offer further support to these businesses going forward into 2008.
 
Outlining Tourism Ireland’s priority action areas for 2008, Paul O’Toole said that improving the distribution of tourism to more rural areas continues to be a priority for the organisation. “The new co-operative regional marketing campaigns launched last year worked well in overseas markets and delivered results. We have refreshed and enhanced these campaigns for the regions this year. In Great Britain, for example, the successful region-to-region approach capitalising on the excellent access links between specific areas of Britain and the regions of Ireland will continue. A new car touring campaign is planned to attract those visitors who either bring their own car to Ireland or who come here and hire one. Research shows that visitors who travel by car stay longer and tour the countryside more extensively,” said Paul O’Toole.
 
Commenting on the major review of the Ireland brand undertaken by Tourism Ireland last year, Paul O’Toole said that the review confirmed that Ireland remains a strongly motivating and attractive proposition for holidaymakers in key markets. “However, it also confirmed that, in this highly competitive global marketplace, the Ireland brand will need to differentiate itself even more strongly if we are to deliver the required growth in overseas revenue and visitor numbers. We will be putting more emphasis on the diversity of holiday experiences available on the Western Seaboard and other regions in our marketing campaigns. Tourism Ireland intends to bring a new focus to the expression of the brand, with an emphasis on “the island of unique Character and Characters”.
 
For 2008, Tourism Ireland has extended the number of overseas marketing opportunities available to the industry in Ireland and has developed a range of new marketing packages which will enable industry, big or small, to promote their product or service directly to the overseas consumer. “In an increasingly competitive climate, with new and emerging destinations fighting for share, consumers are spoilt for choice. If we want to convert ‘lookers’ into ‘bookers’ we need to tempt them with attractive and compelling offers,” said Paul O’Toole.
Chairman for Fáilte Ireland West, Ray Rooney, said: “2007 was a watershed year for tourism in the West of Ireland. It was the first full year of the new Fáilte Ireland Board in the region and the first regional tourism development plan has been prepared. Now the responsibility falls on us all to work together to deliver our ambitious targets. The strong cohesiveness which has now emerged in the various public sector bodies, in particular our local authorities and leader companies, to work together to deliver a more joined up and collective approach is most welcome. I have no doubts that if the industry and Fáilte Ireland can develop a strong partnership it will drive growth and allow the tourism industry to reach the huge potential that currently exists.”

ENDS

 
For further information contact:
 
Fáilte Ireland
Mary Cosgrave                                                                                  087 226 0411
Louise Tolerton                                                                                  086 608 6578
 
Murray Consultants
James Dunny                                                                                    086 388 3903
 
Tourism Ireland
Sinead Grace                                                                                    087 685 9027
 
Weber Shandwick FCC
Louise Cassidy                                                                                  086 383 5727

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