Tourism plans for Dublin discussed
More investment to support long-term growth
Fáilte Ireland
Fáilte Ireland, the body responsible for developing tourism in the region, Tourism Ireland, the body responsible for promoting the island of Ireland overseas, and Dublin Tourism met with tourism industry interests in Dublin this week to outline their plans for developing and promoting Dublin City and County over the coming season.
Attending the meeting, Mr Shaun Quinn, Chief Executive of Fáilte Ireland said the fundamentals underlying tourism in Dublin City and County remained relatively healthy although more investment in cultural and business tourism would be necessary for sustained growth over the longer-term. Turning to the coming season, Mr Quinn said that while 2007 appeared to have been another good year for Dublin generally, 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 with the short break market, which was important to the city, there is potential to achieve further growth over the short term particularly from Mainland Europe.
Commenting on Fáilte Ireland plans for the coming season, he said that the priority is to increase investment in both business and cultural tourism, both of which were important in Dublin. He said that there would also be an increased investment in new and existing tourist attractions and related infrastructure. Fáilte Ireland would also provide more practical business supports to tourism enterprises, many of which are experiencing difficult trading conditions. This would include helping the industry to develop more overseas business and ensuring that a strong web presence was in place. 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 including Dublin.
Tourism Ireland Chief Executive Paul O’Toole said that overseas tourism contributed a record €3.9 billion in revenue to the Irish economy in 2007, €1.5 billion of which was generated in the Dublin region. “2007 was another good year for overseas tourism and in particular for the Dublin region, with preliminary figures showing a significant increase in overseas tourism revenue. On a cautionary note for 2008, 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, Dublin Tourism 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.
Speaking at the meeting Ann Riordan, Chairman of Dublin Tourism said: “We have a modest marketing budget compared to other cities that we are in direct competition with and I am pleased that we are increasing our marketing spend in 2008 with the support of the four local authorities and Fáilte Ireland. As a result, we will be expanding our marketing efforts in 2008, enabled by Tourism Ireland. She also added, “in the context of today’s meeting, we are very conscious of Dublin’s role as a gateway to the rest of Ireland. Indeed, 50% of all visitors to Dublin go on to visit the other regions of Ireland”.
Dublin City and County
Preliminary figures for overseas visitors in 2007 suggest that Dublin City and County experienced above average growth with an approximate six per cent increase on 2006. Mr Quinn noted the region’s excellent performance in the domestic tourism market where total domestic visitors increased by eight per cent on the previous year. Shaun Quinn said, “The spatial development of tourism across all regions including Dublin continues to be a key priority for Fáilte Ireland. The continued development of the Dublin market, which is a key gateway, is of paramount importance for the sustained growth of tourism throughout the country. 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 by Dublin tourism earlier this year, 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.”
The promotion of festivals throughout the country continues to be a focus for the tourism authority and during 2007 over €1.6m was allocated to festivals through Dublin City and County. These included the St Patrick’s Day festival, Taste of Dublin, the Festival of World Cultures, the Dublin Fringe Festival and the Street Performance World Championship.
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.
We believe that Tourism Ireland and Failte Ireland are on the right track and we wish them well with there endeavors