Tourism Ireland and Failte Ireland presented details of their marketing plans and strategies for 2006 to the tourism industry. Tourism Ireland unveiled a €50 million, three year, global advertising campaign targeting an estimated audience of 200 million people worldwide, while Failte Ireland outlined its priorities to achieve greater regional balance of tourists and to support tourism businesses in increasing revenues while controlling costs.

Unveiling the new campaign, Tourism Ireland Chief Executive, Paul O'Toole, commented that Ireland continued to enjoy an extremely positive image as a destination but needed to animate the Irish holiday experience and bring it to life.

"The new campaign unashamedly reflects our core strengths - the beautiful scenery, the warmth of the people and the living and historic culture which have always resonated so well with our visitors. Our new advertising brings to life in a warm and humourous fashion the wide range of holiday choices and activities just waiting to be discovered in Ireland," says Mr O'Toole.

Outlining Tourism Ireland's priority action areas for the coming year, Mr O'Toole noted that improving the distribution of tourism to the regions continued to be a key challenge. In response, Tourism Ireland will commit an estimated €4m to a three pronged strategy for the accelerated promotion of the regions of Ireland overseas:

• Presenting 'Compelling Propositions' that resonate strongly with overseas consumers. These themes will include music, gourmet; literature; history; Christian Heritage; Houses and Gardens.
• Presenting new 'Super Region' brands, such as Ireland Western Regions which resonate more effectively with customers overseas and allow for more creative promotion.
• Promoting and supporting regional access development and working to reinvigorate the car touring sector.

Tourism Ireland's new campaign will be integrated across all marketing communications with the role of the internet being fully exploited through a new consumer website, www.discoverireland.com, which will be rolled out early in 2006.

John O'Donoghue, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism; Shaun Quinn, CEO, Failte Ireland, and Paul O'Toole, CEO, Tourism Ireland.

Roberta Rowat and Simon Gregory, Director of Brand Development and Markets, Tourism Ireland.

Funding of up to €8m has been allocated to six projects in the Border Midlands and Western Region and three projects in the Southern & Eastern Region under Failte Ireland's Tourism Product Development. Grant aids based on a percentage of eligible expenditure have been approved for a range of projects, including the development of equestrian centres, walking trails and sporting facilities.

In the Border, Midlands and Western region, projects have been approved for the Castle Leslie Equestrian Centre, Glaslough, Co. Monaghan; Breaffy Sports and Excellence Centre, Castlebar, Co. Mayo; Achill Island Leisure Limited, Achill, Co. Mayo; Coillte Forest Recreation, Newtownmountkennedy, Co. Wicklow; Killary Adventure Company, Leenane, Co. Galway and Cavan Equestrian Centre, Latt, Co. Cavan.

In the Southern and Eastern Region, projects have been approved for, Lough Derg International Waterpark; Mount Juliet Equestrian Centre, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny and Coillte Forest Recreation, Co. Wicklow.

Autumn was an extremely busy time for Employment Services with many career events taking place. New initiatives and projects were also implemented.

• The IHF participated in the Irish Times Higher Options 2005 in September. This is the nineteenth year of the fair, and it has become one of the most important dates in schools' career diaries. The event attracted students, career guidance counsellors and mature students from schools throughout Ireland. It is estimated that 10,000 students attended the fair each day. The Failte Ireland stand provided an opportunity for school leavers and mature students to discover new career directions and to familiarise themselves with career paths within the tourism industry. Industry representatives from various hotels were also on hand to answer specific questions about the hotel industry.
• The IHF and Failte Ireland's careers magazine, 'Get a Life... in Tourism,' was published in September. This year's issue has been completely redesigned and is very user-friendly, showcasing the diverse range of careers and development opportunities within the industry. It was distributed to all Career Guidance Counsellors throughout Ireland in September.
• The IHF was also represented at Cork Career Options 2005 in the Rochestown Park Conference Centre. Attendance was very high this year with over 7,200 secondary school students visiting over the two days.
• The National Tourism Careers Festival was launched in November and ran for five days in various venues throughout Ireland. It was an action packed week with a full programme of events ranging from college open days to competitions. The very successful 'Go Places in Tourism Roadshow' also took place. Over 2,000 second level students and 70 hotels participated. The festival is a new initiative from the National Recruitment Committee (NRC), which consists of representatives from the IHF, Failte Ireland, VFI, IHI, Institutes of Technology, career guidance counsellors and other career specialists.
• The IHF and other tourism representative bodies also developed a Code of Practice for Holiday/Part-Time employees of the Hospitality and Tourism Industry recently. It aims to ensure that students experience a positive and rewarding working experience while on holiday or parttime work in the hospitality industry. The Code highlights what a young student should expect from an employer and encourages employers to use this experience to promote their business as 'an employer of choice.' The IHF thanks all those who gave freely of their time to help out at the above events.

The Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport Hotel has announced plans to develop a two storey conference and event centre and a sister hotel beside its existing property located at the Old Airport Road less than two miles from Dublin airport. The €30 million expansion will comprise a 30,000 square foot conference centre, a multistorey car park and a three star 114 bedroom hotel, Express by Holiday Inn. The project is expected to be completed by July 2006, creating 50 new jobs.

The new conference facility will increase the existing 240 delegate capacity to 750 and boast 27 meeting rooms. It is designed to host conferences as well as gala dinner events, product launches and exhibitions.

Commenting on the expansion, Enda O’Meara, Managing Director, Crowne Plaza and Express by Holiday Inn said, “A combination of high tech sophistication, great location and quality conference space has made the Crowne Plaza the place to meet. With our new conference and event centre and the additional accommodation facilities available through our new sister hotel, we hope the Crowne Plaza will have one of the strongest positions on Dublin’s, and even Ireland’s, conference map.”

Enda O’Meara, Managing Director, Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport Hotel, announcing details of the €30 million expansion plans.

The Merrion Hotel, Dublin recently scooped two prestigious awards – The Cellar Restaurant received the Best Hotel Restaurant in Dublin accolade at Food and Wine Magazine’s Restaurant of the Year Awards 2005, while the hotel also received the RAC’s Gold Ribbon Premier Award for the sixth consecutive year. The RAC describes the winners of the coveted award as hotels that ‘offer a truly exceptional experience in comfort, cuisine, customer care and service.’

Peter MacCann, the hotel’s General Manager stated, “This is a reflection of the fact that eight years after opening, the Merrion still holds its position as Dublin’s foremost luxury hotel. The RAC awards are world recognised, and receiving this accolade once again is a true honour.”

Kinsale’s famous Old Bank House has been purchased by the owners of The Blue Haven in Kinsale for an undisclosed sum. The guesthouse will be officially taken over by the new owners on 31st January 2006, when proprietors Michael and Marie Riese retire from the business.

The Old Bank House is a luxury 17 bedroom Georgian guesthouse with an RAC five star rating and an AA 4 star rating. Situated on Kinsale’s Pearse Street, near the Blue Haven, the property consists of a large four storey Georgian residence and also the adjoining three upper floors of the neighbouring Post Office. It has featured in the Bridgestone Guide every year since 1990 as one of the top 100 places to stay in Ireland and also won this year’s Guesthouse of the Year Award from Les Routiers.

Old Bank House, Kinsale

The Westlodge Hotel, Bantry, West Cork recently achieved the Mark of Best Practice standard through the OPTIMUS Programme run by Fáilte Ireland. The Optimus Best Practice programme is a business process improvement programme that enables a hotel to benchmark its business against the best in the industry, identify what makes leading hotels successful and apply these same successful formulas to a property.

This is the second year the Westlodge has achieved the Optimus Mark of Best Practice. Award winning hotels receive a certificate, which is valid for 12 months.

Paul Phillips of the White Sands Hotel, Portmarnock, Co. Dublin won the All Ireland Young Chef of the Year recently for his outstanding menu of Sea Bass with Lobster Strudel, Chicken Forest Boudin and Banana Bakewell Tart. Paul started his career as a Kitchen Porter in Johnny Fox’s Pub in 1997, progressed to Commis Chef, attended college and moved to City West Hotel as Chef De Partie. In 2003 Paul began competing and won his first gold medal in his first competition. He continues to be very competitive and has amassed an impressive amount of medals including 9 Gold, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze.

In 2004, Paul was the Captain of the Irish Culinary Junior Team, which won silver medals on two separate occasions at the Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany.

Under the guidance of Paul and his award winning kitchen team, White Sands Hotel will shortly open a new 100 seat restaurant which will be called Mad Fish.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts are opening a second property in Ireland in Spring 2006 with the new five star Sheraton Fota Island Golf Resort & Spa, Cork. The 133 room property will be constructed on the site of the existing Fota Island Golf Club. In addition to the championship golf course, guests will also enjoy a full service destination Spa with 17 treatment rooms, a speciality restaurant, and an all day dining restaurant. The new resort will also ultimately include over 250 luxury residential lodges.

Roeland Vos, President, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Europe, Middle East & Africa said, "We are thrilled to be opening another hotel in Ireland. Since we opened the Westin Dublin in 2001, we have been looking for other opportunities in this market. This hotel increases Starwood's commitment to Ireland while further expanding on the wonderful resorts we can offer our guests around the world.

An artist’s impression of the Sheraton Fota Island.

LES ROUTIERS IN IRELAND
The Road to Good Food

Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O'Donoghue, TD, Margaret Jeffares Managing Director of Les Routiers Ireland and Simon Kitto of Villeroy & Boch (sponsor) present Carmel Lynch and Padraig McGillicuddy of Ballygarry House Hotel with the coveted Les Routiers Hotel of the Year Award 2005.

The Les Routiers annual awards took place in Dublin recently. Amongst the winners were Ballygarry House Hotel, Tralee, which was awarded Les Routiers Hotel of the Year 2005; and Lacken House which scooped Les Routiers Host of the Year Award 2005. The Les Routiers Guesthouse & Restaurant of the Year 2005 was Aherne’s Youghal, Co. Cork

The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O’Donoghue announced the winners on the night, which also saw the launch of the second Les Routiers in Ireland Guide 2006. Margaret Jeffares, Managing Director, Les Routiers Ireland outlined in her address the achievements of Les Routiers, which, although in its infancy in Ireland, is internationally renowned. She said, “Tourism in Ireland is changing; visitors want to meet Irish people, receive genuine “real” hospitality and experience good quality food and wine and not get entrapped in the superficial tourism net. Les Routiers is perfectly positioned to meet this growing market, and we must protect and ensure that our members represent these values at all times.”

The nominations for the awards are open to all Les Routiers members, who are assessed throughout the year using set guidelines. The Les Routiers in Ireland Guide recommends an array of establishments including hotels, country houses, guesthouses, B&B's, restaurants, pubs and cafes - all of which are selected because of their individual excellence, good food and unique hospitality.

Les Routiers in Ireland Award Winners 2005

Guesthouse & Restaurant of the Year 2005	Aherne’s, Youghal, Co Cork
Hotel of the Year 2005	Ballygarry House Hotel, Tralee, Co Kerry
Guesthouse of the Year 2005	The Old Bank House, Kinsale, Co. Cork
Winelist of the Year 2005	Kelly’s Hotel Rosslare, Co Wexford
Host of the Year 2005	Mrs Jackie Kennedy Toner, Lacken House, Kilkenny
Locally Produced Food Supporter’s Award	The Redbank House & Restaurant, Skerries, Dublin

PREM Group, specialists in the management of hotels, serviced apartments and serviced offices have announced their sponsorship of the Connacht Rugby Team under their Days Hotel brand. In a deal worth €250,000, Connacht will sport the Days Hotel logo on their jerseys for the next three years.

According to PREM Group Managing Director, Jim Murphy – a former Galwegians club rugby player – the deal will help to raise the profile of Days Hotels throughout Ireland. “We are delighted to be associated with Connacht Rugby and are very proud that their jerseys will feature the Days Hotel logo. We hope this will help promote the brand throughout Ireland, Britain and beyond,” he said.

There are currently four Days Hotels operating in Rathmines and Talbot Street in Dublin, Days Hotel Tullamore and Days Hotel Galway – the largest hotel in the west of Ireland. Over the course of the next year the PREM Group also expects to open Days Hotels in Castlebar, Kilkenny, Dublin Airport and ParkWest, Dublin. They will also continue to expand the franchise in the UK.

From left to right Connacht players Andrew Farley (Captain), Colm Rigney and Stephen Knoop with PREM Group Managing Director Jim Murphy (second from right) announcing details of Days Hotels’ sponsorship of the Connacht Rugby Team

Liam P. Doyle has been appointed General Manager of The Shelbourne Hotel. A native of County Kildare, Liam’s international experience includes four years with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. Liam will be responsible for the relaunch of The Shelbourne into the Irish and International market as the City’s leading five star luxury hotel. As General Manager, he will oversee the hotel’s extensive restoration that will enhance its existing charm, and prepare the grand dame for its debut when it re-opens in 2006 in time for the Ryder Cup in September 2006.

Sinéad Moloney has been appointed Regional Tourism Officer with special responsibility for County Wexford at South East Tourism. She holds a Masters of Science in Marketing Practice with first class honours from the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, where she also worked as Marketing Advisor to the school’s Marketing Development Programme. Sinéad also holds a BComm with first class honours in Marketing and Management from UCC, where she was a nominee for Student of the Year and placed second in a class of 152.

Niall O’Sullivan has been appointed Deputy General Manager, Rooms Division, of Ramada Ireland. He joins Ramada from The Westin Turnberry Resort, Scotland, where he was Director of Revenue Management. Prior to moving to Turnberry, Niall worked in St Regis Grand in Rome, the Sheraton Dubai Hotel & Towers and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Corporate offices in Ireland and the US Niall holds a BA in Business Management and a Diploma in Hotel Management and International Marketing.

Denise Bevan has been appointed Conference and Banqueting Coordinator at the Herbert Park Hotel. She will be responsible for the hotels’ meeting, conference and group dining business. Prior to joining Herbert Park Hotel, Denise worked in the events office at the Guinness Store House in Dublin and as events coordinator for the exclusive South Lodge Hotel in Sussex, England.

Declan Collier, Chief Executive, Dublin Airport Authority

As passenger numbers surpassed projected levels in recent years, Dublin Airport has been confronted with difficult issues relating to inadequate capacity and a poor local transport infrastructure. However, plans are afoot for a second terminal and a new Pier to alleviate the capacity issues.

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), which is responsible for providing airport services and infrastructure, will play a critical role in this transformation. DAA Chief Executive Declan Collier spoke to Innsight about his organisation as it embarks on the development of Pier D and a second terminal.

We all know that Dublin airport is bursting at the seams. The journey from check-in through security clearance to setting on board an aircraft is one fraught with stress and anxiety. The throng of bodies now using the building and its services is growing by 1m each year. 86,000 people used the airport on the busiest day this summer. That’s roughly the same number as attended the All-Irelands at Croke Park in September!

Dublin Airport will handle short of 19m people this year. That’s just over 52,000 on average each day. Moreover, volumes are projected to reach 30m by 2014. By that time, the plan is to have two terminals and at least two more piers for aircraft to embark and disembark.

In the meantime, the Dublin Airport Authority, the State owned company that has responsibility for providing airport services and infrastructure and managing the airport, must cope with what it even admits to being inadequate facilities. You might wonder then why anyone would willingly take on the job of chief executive of the DAA. But that’s what Declan Collier did last January at 49 years of age and after 25 years as a senior executive of ExxonMobile or Esso to you and me.

The job is “very challenging, involves being in the media limelight much of the time and has clear political and social angles to it, but I’m enjoying the job,” he notes. Collier does not believe, by any means, that the Airport is a lost cause.

“We accept there is a major capacity issue at Dublin Airport,” he admits frankly. “The buildings there were never intended to deal with the volumes passing through them.”

Dublin is one of the fastest growing airports in the world, and, at the present rate of growth, he says that the airport will have reached “absolute capacity” within three to four years. However, he feels that recently announced initiatives will make a huge difference to airport users.

The two major construction projects are a new fourth Pier (D) and a second terminal. But these are medium term in nature. Short term solutions are needed, and the key initiative is the planned conversion of the airport’s basement into a check-in area with 25 new desks capable of catering for 3 to 4m passengers a year.

The two story basement has, naturally enough, always been there. Collier says that it was originally designed to be a concourse area for a rail or Metro link from Dublin city. However, as we all know, that is still on the drawing board all these years later. Up until now, the basement has been used for storage.

Collier says the conversion will be completed and the new check-in area opened before the end of 2006. With the rail link possibly back on the agenda, what will the DAA do for a concourse, assuming it does become a reality? “We’ll find an alternative,” says a confident CEO, clearly preferring to deal with what he knows to be a certainty – an under utilised basement space.

Collier says “the Airport Authority is intent on providing a progressive delivery of capacity, which also includes plans to build a new, major runway.” Dublin only has three aircraft piers right now, and the addition of the proposed Pier D is critical to facilitate the fast turnaround of aircraft and for the increased comfort of passengers. Pier D will deliver up to 20 additional plane stands or docking bays and help ease pressure on Pier A, which handles some 40% of Dublin airport’s traffic.

Continued on page 9