Tuesday 7th March 2006

‘COMPELLING REASONS TO VISIT’ REQUIRED TO REJUVENATE UNDER-PERFORMING REGIONS
States New IHF President

The newly elected President of the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF), Annette Devine, has called on Ireland’s state tourism agencies to ensure that its strategies to promote growth of tourism will provide a much needed boost for the underperforming regions of the country, stating that we need to communicate to our overseas prospects compelling reasons to visit our regions. Delegates at the IHF’s 68th Annual Conference in Dublin today heard that rural areas are not achieving their tourism potential and continue to be almost totally reliant on the domestic market. Ms Devine stated that in some regions hotels and guesthouses rely on the domestic market for 70-80% of their business, while in Dublin domestic business accounts for about 34% of business.
           
Ms Devine said that visitors to Ireland are either motivated to take a short city break or are attracted to the Irish scenery, its people, and the range of things to do and see. However, she said that, in recent years, the former has been the more successful. She said it’s now time that the tourism industry itself, and the state tourism agencies, become more pro-active in their efforts to effectively communicate to potential customers in overseas markets compelling reasons to visit our regions.

            “Thankfully, the domestic market is, at present, extremely strong, and is the lifeblood of regional tourism. However, it is entirely driven by the buoyancy of the Irish economy and it is extremely risky, in the long term, to rely so heavily on one market source. The reality is that the market doesn’t owe us a living - the onus is on us, the industry, to pull together and tackle this challenge head on. While there is always a challenge for the Government to be as supportive as possible, and the recent €5 million additional allocation for regional marketing will certainly prove very useful, we as an industry must also be active. Complacency does not belong in the highly competitive international tourist sector,” she said.

Ms Devine asserted that it is up to each individual in tourism to play their part in the collective effort to bring overseas leisure tourists back into the regions: “There is a real and urgent need for our industry to communicate the reasons why an overseas visitor should visit our regions. We know that we have a lot to offer but as an industry we need to be far more effective in communicating this to our overseas markets. We need to continuously ask ourselves, why should someone come to my hotel or my guesthouse, or my town, or my county? Offering memorable experiences for visitors is critical - it is no longer enough to provide quality accommodation and expect that people will arrive on our doorsteps. Highlighting the activities available in the region, along with cultural and historical attractions are key components of the whole package for a visitor,” states Ms Devine.

She noted that holiday makers now have more choice than ever and highlighted key steps to be taken to assist revive tourism in the regions:

• Collaboration at regional level amongst industry bodies, hoteliers, tourism offices to jointly promote the regions through identification of compelling ‘reasons to visit’;
• Greater promotion of Ireland’s green image, using Ireland’s natural environment as a tool in attracting overseas leisure visitors, instead of building the attractions we think they want to see;
• Following the example of the Dublin branch of the IHF in producing the Top 10 things to do in Dublin guide, by mirroring that effort in each of the regions.

Citing a fall of 9.2 million since 1999 in bednights by overseas visitors outside Dublin, Ms Devine welcomed the recent announcement by John O’Donoghue TD, the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism of the establishment, for marketing reasons, of three new 'Super Regions’, Ms Devine also stated that new regional road and rail access projects once complete would provide the regions with additional opportunities for tourism growth.

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