€5 MILLION IN FUNDING FOR ‘SUPER REGIONS’

A ‘Super Regions’ marketing initiative worth €5 million has been launched to promote more balanced regional growth in the face of changes in both foreign and domestic travel and tourism trends. The initiative, which was announced by Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue, TD, in conjunction with Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland will be rolled out over the course of 2006 and represents a new strategic approach to regional tourism marketing. IHF President Richard Bourke warmly welcomed the announcement, stating that the increased funding would play a vital role in reviving overseas tourism in regional areas.

The initiative will involve €3 million in Exchequer funding and will be additional to Tourism Ireland's destination marketing campaigns and Fáilte Ireland's regional allocations and activities. It will address the need for greater scope for co-operation between adjoining Regional Tourism Authorities (RTAs), particularly for overseas marketing programmes.

For marketing purposes, the initiative will see existing RTA regions being combined into three Super Regions:

• Ireland South - comprising Cork-Kerry and the South East RTA area
• Ireland West - comprising Shannon Development, Ireland West and North West Tourism areas
• Ireland East - comprising Midlands- East Tourism and Dublin Tourism areas, together with Cavan and Monaghan.

Funding for the initiative will form part of the enhanced provision for tourism services in the 2006 Book of Estimates. This will be used for carefully planned and focused joint

advertising and marketing activities in overseas markets, by Tourism Ireland in consultation with Fáilte Ireland on behalf of the regions. Each ‘Super Region’ will also be encouraged to boost allocated funds by leveraging additional resources from the industry within their areas.

In addition, Fáilte Ireland is introducing a new €1 million Local Area Marketing Fund to support the tourism industry at a local level. The fund encourages the industry to work together to develop and offer attractive promotional packages as a practical step towards boosting rural tourism revenue from both the domestic and overseas markets. Fáilte Ireland will also allocate €1 million for a new innovation fund. This is a pilot initiative where the immediate priority is to promote and support innovation in tourism and stimulate investment across all regions but with an emphasis on areas outside of the main urban centres.

Citing the worrying decline in regional spread of tourism, which has seen bednights by overseas visitors outside Dublin fall by 9.2 million since 1999, IHF President Richard Bourke said “The establishment of three new 'Super Regions' for the purposes of overseas promotion represents a strategic step in re-invigorating the regions. The strength of communicating compelling reasons to visit the regions by overseas leisure tourists will be the benchmark by which the success of this initiative will be measured.”

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At the launch of the funding for the Super Regions were (l-r) Shaun Quinn, Chief Executive, Fáilte Ireland; Eamonn McKeon, Chief Executive, ITIC; John O’Donoghue, TD, Minister for Arts, Sport & Tourism; Paul O’Toole, Chief Executive, Tourism Ireland; and John Power, Chief Executive, IHF

“It’s a fact that our regions outside of Dublin haven’t been performing in recent years and this is of great concern to our industry, particularly in an environment where international competition is so high and given the Government’s ambitions to increase visitor numbers to 10 million by 2012. The number of visitors to Ireland should not be the key measurement of the success of our tourism marketing, rather it should be the number of nights spent by overseas leisure tourists in the country. In this respect our regions have suffered. It is extremely heartening that the Government is allocating much needed funds to the State tourism bodies to focus on this major challenge,” he said.

According to Minister O'Donoghue, the initiative will provide benefits in the form of economies of scale and increased market penetration. “The ‘Super Regions’ initiative demonstrates very clearly that our tourist industry 'on the ground', is coming to grips with the changing reality in international tourism. It also underlines my commitment and the Government's commitment to supporting the industry at regional level,” stated Mr O'Donoghue.

Shaun Quinn, Chief Executive, Fáilte Ireland, also welcomed the announcement and said that the funding will be immediately dedicated towards the product development and region promotion. “One of our main priorities with this funding is to address the growing imbalance between rural and urban tourism. We are particularly optimistic with the pilot innovation fund which is designed to develop specific attractions that will both attract and hold visitors in the rural areas.”

While Paul O’Toole, Tourism Ireland CEO, said that Tourism Ireland will use the additional investment to accelerate promotion of the regions of Ireland overseas. “Programmes of scale generally allow for more effective and creative promotion overseas, besides resonating better with consumers in our key markets who are not as aware of regional boundaries,” said Paul O’Toole. He added that the initiative will complement and overarch Tourism Ireland’s existing regionality programme which includes access development, support for the car-touring sector and themed cross-regional tourist routes.

Richard Bourke added that “It is not enough anymore to rely on our beautiful landscape and friendly people as the reason for visitors to come here. While those qualities will always be an integral part of our offering, we are now competing with a range of European destinations and must up the ante by offering a compelling reason for people to choose Ireland over and above other countries. Ireland needs to find that special way of marketing itself in order to bring overseas visitors back into our countryside. This fund and the supporting programme to encourage local tourism interests in the region to continue to work together, will be of paramount importance in achieving that objective.”

The announcement by John O’Donoghue, TD, Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism of an additional €4.5m allocation for the promotion and marketing of the Ryder Cup was warmly welcomed by the Irish Hotels Federation and other tourism bodies recently. The IHF stated the fund should be used to mobilise and motivate the Irish tourist industry and golfing fraternity to ensure that Ireland’s staging of the Ryder Cup is a countrywide experience that all areas will benefit from, not just those fortunate enough to be directly involved in the event.

Commenting on the news John Power, Chief Executive, IHF, stated that the onus is on Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Ireland and the Irish tourism industry as a whole to roll out a programme of events which leverage the worldwide exposure of Ireland’s hosting of the Ryder Cup. He said the Ryder Cup is not just about a week in September, but rather Ireland’s ability and facilities to host one of the top three sporting events in the world, showcasing the vast choice of 414 golf courses in Ireland.

“The Ryder Cup in 2006 will be a major international showcase for Ireland – it is a unique opportunity to profile Ireland as an attractive destination to a potential one billion viewers throughout the world. In the lead up to and whilst the Ryder Cup is actually being broadcast throughout the world, there should be highly visible marketing initiatives promoting attractive golfing packages to Ireland that extends across all levels of visitor demand,” said John Power.

The IHF participated in two of the Holiday World Experience Shows 2006, which took place in Belfast and Dublin in January.

Eight IHF member hotels/guesthouses attended the show in Belfast, with nine properties attending in Dublin. The Dublin show proved to be the largest, in relation to both exhibitor numbers and public interest, with 3,950 visitors attending the trade day solely on the 26th January. A further 51,500 visitors attended the three remaining consumer days in Dublin. The Belfast show attracted almost 33,000 visitors over the three days. Every year the Holiday World shows provide a means for the industry to target the home holiday market.

The IHF has appointed Emer Moynihan as Chair of its Kerry Branch. In her new role, Mrs Moynihan plans to focus on promotion of the regions, improving access to the regions and maintaining competitiveness. For the last three years Mrs Moynihan has acted as Kerry Branch Representative on the IHF National Council and takes over the Chair from Pat Chawke, General Manager of the Aghadoe Heights Hotel.

According to Mrs Moynihan, “It is important that there is good access into Kerry. People are now going on short breaks a couple of times a year and no longer tend to go on two week long breaks. Therefore, it is important that Kerry becomes a relatively easy place to get to.”

Ms Moynihan has a decade of experience in the hospitality business and has a background in the Civil Service, where she spent 20 years working with the Inspector of Taxes in the Revenue Commissioners. A native of Oughterard, Co. Galway, she has lived in Kerry for almost 25 years where she and her husband own and run Earls Court House, a four star guesthouse in Killarney.

A five day programme of events aimed at attracting over 1.5 million spectators to the 2006 St. Patrick’s Festival has been unveiled. The festival will include a variety of attractions such as music, theatre, family carnivals, comedy, street arts, visual arts, dance, a treasure hunt, the world’s biggest Céili and up to 4,000 performers.

“The celebration of St. Patrick’s Festival is truly a national affair with community and school groups, artists and street theatre companies from all over Ireland on the move for St Patrick’s Festival Parade. Groups from the four corners of Ireland, Wexford, Waterford, Kildare and as far away as the Inishowen peninsula in Donegal arrive in Dublin the night before the national parade,” stated Carina McGrail, Creative Director, St. Patrick’s Festival.

Speaking at the launch of the festival programme, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O’Donoghue, TD, said, “It is custom and practice to have a specific theme for the Parade on St. Patrick's Day and this year is no exception. This year's theme is ‘Wishful Thinking’ and I believe that there will be some really inspirational, comic and provoking responses from the participating pageant companies, highlighting as usual the strength and depth of cultural and artistic talent in this country.”

St. Patrick’s Festival, Dublin

Six of the IHF’s leading hotels in the South East have combined to produce a South East Conference & Incentive Guide, marketing the region as the ideal conference venue. The 36 page guide was launched by Richard Bourke, President, IHF, at the Parade Tower in Kilkenny Castle and provides information on featured hotels and details of attractions on offer to delegates attending conferences and business meetings in Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford and Wexford.

Hotels participating in the initiative are; Seven Oaks Hotel, Carlow, Kilkenny River Court Hotel, Lyrath Estate Hotel, Spa & Convention Centre, Kilkenny, Faithlegg House Hotel & Golf Club, Co. Waterford, Tower Hotel, Waterford and the Talbot Hotel, Wexford.

Speaking at the launch, Mr Bourke said that with competition for conference and incentive business among hotels never more fierce, it represents an innovative and progressive approach for hotels in neighbouring counties to pool their resources and brand the region among decision-makers.

“The South East has a lot of attractions including accessibility; availability of adequate accommodation and modern conference venues; attractiveness to delegates and their partners and good rail links to Dublin and road access to Cork. Given this, the six hotels that have come together to produce this brochure are to be commended for the way that they are pitching the region as well as their individual properties which each offer specific pluses to event planners.” Mr Bourke stated.

Pictured at the launch were (l-r) Paul McDaid, General Manager – South East, Tower Hotel Group; Peter Wilson, Kilkenny River Court & Lyrath Estate, Kilkenny; Dick Bourke, President, IHF; Michael Walsh, Seven Oaks Hotel, Carlow; Donal O’Meara, Secretary, IHF and Philip Gavin, Talbot Hotels.

Pictured (l-r) are Donal O’Meara, Secretary/Treasurer, IHF; Peter Scallan, Sales Director, Celtic Linen, and John Power, Chief Executive, IHF

Celtic Linen, one of the leading suppliers of bed and linen solutions to the Irish hotel industry, has been announced as the sponsor of the IHF’s 2005 annual report. The report contains detailed information on all aspects of the IHF’s activities, services and operations throughout Ireland in 2005.

The IHF 2005 Annual Report will be distributed to all members of the IHF in the coming weeks.

Cheng Yik Ka from China pictured at Muckross House, Killarney as part of the first organised tourism group from China to visit the region since Ireland was accorded ADS status

The first organised group of tourists from China to Ireland arrived in February, paving the way for millions of other visitors to our shores over the coming years. The group’s five night visit was organised by tour operators Gullivers and featured on its itinerary trips to Dublin, Powerscourt, Glendalough, Waterford, Cork, Killarney, Kerry and Shannon.

Tourism Ireland website in Chinese

Niall Gibbons, Tourism Ireland’s Director of Corporate Services, said the Chinese market has the potential to be highly lucrative for Irish tourism. “With a population of over 1.3 billion and a rapidly expanding economy, China has the potential to exert greater influence over the development and marketing of tourism destinations worldwide over the next decade than perhaps any other country on the globe.’’ stated Mr Gibbons.

“Almost 29 million Chinese travelled overseas in 2004, and 50 million people are projected to travel from China in 2010, soaring to 100 million by 2020. This will make China one of the world’s top three outbound tourism markets and clearly Ireland wants a part of that business,” Mr Gibbons added. Ireland was granted approved destination status by the

Chinese Government in May 2004, opening up the way for organised group tourism from China. Last year, Tourism Ireland appointed its first representative in China, Susan Li, who is based in Shanghai and has been identifying segments of the Chinese market offering the best potential for Ireland. Tourism Ireland also maintains a website targeting the Chinese market and coordinates the circulation of brochures in China’s two major languages, Mandarin and Cantonese.