‘ONE SIZE FITS ALL’ APPROACH NO LONGER APPLICABLE TO 21ST CENTURY TOURISM

Tourism Chief Tells Hoteliers

Our methods in attracting tourists to Ireland must become more innovative and creative, tourism providers were told on the eve of the IHF’s 67th Annual Conference and AGM in Cork today. The Irish tourism industry is entering a new era where travellers are more discerning, and it will not be enough going forward to simply promote a region, or depend on traditional special deals of two nights B&B and one dinner to capture guests. More sophisticated marketing techniques focusing on exactly what an area has to offer for people’s leisure and pursuit, will be required by tourism bodies and the industry itself, conference delegates were told.

According to Richard Bourke, President, IHF, the Irish tourism sector is entering a new testing period in its development with immense competition from other countries and a change in visitors’ desires impacting on how tourism providers will have to market themselves. Ireland has an enormous wealth of reasons why people should choose our destination over others – the challenge will be how to communicate what makes Ireland special and different from other destinations,” he said.

“Global tourism is on a tremendous growth path. Worldwide tourist numbers are set to double over the next 20 years from 700 million international trips to 1.4 billion trips. However, with this growth also comes a more discerning traveller whose individual needs must be catered for. Our national tourism marketing strategies and individual tourism business efforts must refocus to take best advantage of this growth and deliver the experience that the 21st century traveller seeks. Ireland’s tourism success has been phenomenal and in the past ten years has seen overseas visitors increase from 4.2 million in 1995 to 6.4 million in 2004 with a corresponding increase in overseas revenue generation from €2.1 billion to €4.2 billion. However, the industry must become more strategic in its approach to marketing if it hopes to sustain that growth,” Mr Bourke said.

Research undertaken of overseas visitors’ views on Ireland ranks their experience of Ireland high, with culture, people and place being key attractions. However, there is evidence that given new destinations becoming more accessible, and thus more competition, these core attractors are not sufficient on their own. Richard Bourke points to the reduction in the number of British holidaymakers as a case in point.

“We have known for some time that the British market was suffering a decline, a very worrying trend given that it is our largest market, representing 58% of overseas visitors to Ireland. Recent research from Tourism Ireland has shown the reasons for that decline. While Ireland is still an attractive destination to UK travellers, increasingly it is perceived as less exotic and foreign than many of the Eastern European and long-haul destinations becoming more accessible to them. While Tourism Ireland is now tackling the challenge of re-invigorating British interest in holidaying in Ireland, through fresh marketing campaigns, individual tourism enterprises must also innovate their marketing strategies to avoid further downward demand from this and other markets,” he states.

“The visitor trends are clear. With some €160 million spent by the industry alone each year in marketing, this must now be used in clever ways that specifically shows the range of activities that are available for people when they reach their destination in Ireland. We must make our marketing individual, specific and based on potential positive experiences to encourage people to choose our product offering over others in competing countries,” says Richard Bourke.

The IHF stressed that e-marketing will be a growing key influencer on destination choice. Online booking systems and internet marketing techniques need to be combined with new activity and location specific offerings. With global online hotel bookings expected to be valued at some $14.8 billion by 2007, internet marketing must be fully embraced by the sector.

“The Federation’s website www.irelandhotels.com now generates over 30,000 visitors per week. Since the new reservations system was put in place almost a year ago, bookings made through the website have increased by at least 150% and in the last year accounted for over €2 million in revenue. The internet has opened up a whole new channel of communication for our industry, let’s use it to maximum potential to market our properties, our regions and our country as a whole,” Richard Bourke concluded.

The Federation welcomed the new advertising and marketing plans being undertaken by Tourism Ireland, the all island body charged with promoting the island of Ireland overseas and suggested the industry would work closely with the tourism agencies in joint marketing initiatives to ensure that Ireland remains a top destination choice for international visitors.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
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