27 June 2012
Fáilte Ireland today welcomed the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) report on capitalising Dublin’s potential. The National Tourism Development Authority acknowledged the report as a valuable contribution to its ongoing work to develop the full tourism potential of the nation’s capital city.
Keith Mc Cormack, Fáilte Ireland’s Head of Visit Dublin and member of the report’s steering group, emphasised:
“Dublin is the strategic cockpit for Irish tourism. Three quarters of all overseas visitors pass through the capital so it is imperative we do all we can to make that experience a world class one. Fáilte Ireland, having recently incorporated the former Dublin Tourism, has undertaken internal restructuring to maintain a strong Dublin focus in its support services. We are very much focussed on boosting tourism in the capital and we welcome today’s report as a valuable contribution to that work and will consider the proposals presented”.
Mr McCormack pointed to recent examples of Fáilte Ireland’s commitment during 2012, including the recently announced “Dubline” – a €4million themed and tech-savvy new heritage trail for the city capitalising on €5.5million worth of recent capital investment in the area (including the development of Meeting House Square, The Book of Kells exhibition at Trinity College and the Dublinia attraction).
Building on the success of the Visit Dublin brand, previously managed by Dublin Tourism, Fáilte Ireland has also established a new dedicated Visit Dublin unit to aggressively promote Dublin as a premier destination.
Mr Mc Cormack explained –
“The Visit Dublin Unit has a number of new initiatives rolling out this year including an extensive international marketing campaign which will be initiated along with a creative refresh which will take a fresh approach to promoting Dublin. A full schedule of multi-media activity focussing on the key markets of Great Britain, France, Germany and US is planned as part of this campaign and we will be working with our colleagues in Tourism Ireland to press every advantage for Dublin in these markets.
“We are also continuing to significantly invest in major festivals for the city- including established events such as the St Patrick’s Day festival as well as planning for newer happenings including a significantly larger New Year’s Eve festival at the end of this year.
“Also in the pipeline is a greater use of technology including an updated version of the hugely successful Visit Dublin App which is almost ready to hit the virtual shelves.”
Mr McCormack added that business tourism is another key area for growth for the Dublin tourism industry. This year, business appears to be booming, as Fáilte Ireland’s Dublin Convention Bureau (DCB) announce that business is up by 30% on the same period last year with over €22 million in confirmed business for Dublin.
Promoting Dublin as an attractive destination for conferences and events, the DCB team has, this year already completed 141 leads, conducted 20 site inspections and submitted 10 congress bids and is on track to convert €52.5 million euro worth of business tourism to Dublin.
Keith McCormack concluded -
“Tourism’s recovery will depend on a team Ireland approach. This will involve the public sector agencies, tourism businesses and, crucially, the wider business community’s involvement. We particularly welcome the emphasis in today’s report on partnership across all the city’s stakeholders – there is something to gain for everybody in Dublin if tourism continues to grow”.
ENDS
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Alex Connolly
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Louise Tolerton
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