Wednesday 24th January 2008

SWIFT IMPLEMENTATION OF MARKETING PLANS NOW NEEDED
WELCOME FOR SHANNON TOURISM FUNDING

The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) today welcomes the commitment by Séamus Brennan T.D., Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism to designate €5m for tourism marketing for the Shannon Catchment Area for 2008. The IHF Shannon Branch states it is pleased with this decision, which will assist address the challenges facing the West of Ireland in light of Open Skies. However, it stresses that this level of funding must be sustained and continued for five years.

The IHF states that initiatives must be delivered that will drive demand among visitors coming to Ireland to use Shannon as their gateway of choice, giving them access to an authentic Irish tourism experience. Chairman of the IHF Shannon Branch, Michael Vaughan, states that, “While we welcome the Government’s commitment to increase funding for marketing initiatives for the Shannon Catchment area, the challenge is now to roll out innovative marketing campaigns to promote the region’s attractiveness as a destination to visit.”

“The IHF, Shannon Development, Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland Regions, Shannon Airport and key tourism stakeholders in the region are working together to finalise innovative marketing plans which will utilise this funding. Our ambition is to make this money work hard and to be clever in its utilisation so that the value it brings in terms of visitors to our region will be clearly seen. It is our view that showing a good return on this investment will auger well for increased funding for the years ahead,” says Michael Vaughan.

Mr Vaughan stated that the IHF has been a lead participant in the Shannon Transatlantic Task Force which aims to swiftly roll out focused marketing actions to provide an urgent boost the attractiveness of the Shannon and Westerns regions’ as a destination to visit. The IHF stresses that Government led funding of marketing campaigns represents a solid investment proposition for the Irish economy as it is estimated that every €1 spent on tourism marketing brings in €15 in tourism revenue.

ENDS

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:

Siobhan Molloy/Eoin Quinn           Tel: 01 6760168
Weber Shandwick           087 2332191 /086 817 50 66

Or

Michael Vaughan, IHF                      Tel: 065 708 1111