New Tourism Ireland Global Ad Campaign Highlights Great Places and Activities in Ireland - Brought to Life by Great People.
Dublin, Monday 5 December 2005. Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland today presented details of their marketing plans and strategies for 2006 to the tourism industry at a function in Dublin, opened by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O'Donoghue, T.D. At the event, Tourism Ireland unveiled its brand new €50 million, three-year, global advertising campaign. The new ad campaign will have an estimated audience of 200 million people worldwide. Fáilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority, outlined its priorities to support tourism businesses in growing revenue while controlling costs, and to achieve greater regional balance.
Opening the event, John O'Donoghue TD, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism said: 'The launch, today, of Tourism Ireland's new campaign represents the culmination of a major effort on the part of Tourism Ireland, along with key stakeholders in the industry, to re-visit how Ireland presents itself as a tourism destination overseas. It has been rigorously researched and tested with consumers and I understand that the response has been very positive indeed. As always, the real test will be whether it delivers the desired message and prompts the right people to visit the island of Ireland. I have every confidence that the campaign will do just that and that it will pay dividends to all concerned. For my part, I have secured an unprecedented level of Exchequer resources for tourism development - €134 million for 2006 - representing an increase of 7% on 2005. This is the largest ever Exchequer budget for Irish tourism promotion and development and I have no doubt that it will be put to the best possible use.'
Unveiling the new advertising campaign, Tourism Ireland's Chief Executive, Paul O'Toole said that Ireland as a destination continued to enjoy an extremely positive image but that research had shown the need 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. But our consumers also told us that they needed more information about what a holiday in Ireland might involve. Our new advertising brings to life, in a warm and humorous fashion, the wide range of holiday choices and activities just waiting to be discovered in Ireland. The key message underpinning the campaign is Great Places and Activities - Brought to Life by Great People.'
Overseas visitor performance in 2005 has proved better than anticipated at the beginning of the year. Preliminary estimates indicate that over 8.1m visitors will have come to the island of Ireland by the end of 2005, an increase of 394,000. Overseas tourism revenue will be just under the €4 billion mark. Europe will prove to be the star performer of all the markets with 1.92m visitors (+17%). Great Britain also showed a reasonably good performance (+2.5%) providing what looks like a welcome start to recovery from our largest market. North America showed a flat performance, following strong growth last year and this market together with the long-haul markets will be the subject of a root and branch review in 2006 according to Tourism Ireland.
Outlining Tourism Ireland's priority action areas for the coming year, Paul O'Toole said improving the regional distribution of tourism to the regions continued to be a key challenge. In response, Tourism Ireland will adopt a three pronged strategy for the accelerated promotion of the regions of Ireland overseas, he said. 'We will invest an estimated €4M specifically to support this strategy and engage in additional, cooperative marketing with all Regions. The strategy will involve:
- Presenting 'Compelling Propositions' - Regional 'Products' and 'Themes' that resonate strongly with overseas consumers, e.g. promoting a series of all-island Tourist Theme Trails or 'Rainbow Routes' - to help visitors to get the most out of their visit. 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. These will be based on new strategic marketing alliances between adjoining neighbour regions with the support of the RTAs and Fáilte Ireland.
- Further promoting and supporting regional access development as well as reinvigorating the car touring sector.
Paul O'Toole concluded by saying that Tourism Ireland's new campaign will be wholly integrated across all marketing communications with the role of the internet being fully exploited. He announced details of Tourism Ireland's new consumer website also to be rolled out early in 2006 and which will have a new name. 'Our new advertising sets up the promise of discovery and it is important that our website builds on this, hence our invitation to potential visitors to 'Discover your very own Ireland at discoverireland.com'.
Fáilte Ireland's Agenda for 2006 is to work to improve the tourism product offered to visitors once they arrive, to stimulate further growth in the home market, to provide practical business supports and to champion tourism development at national and local level', said Shaun Quinn, Chief Executive. '2006 is an important year for Irish tourism. Fáilte Ireland will be bringing forward a new Tourism Product Development Strategy to guide public and private investment as well as expanding its range of business supports across all regions. Finally, in this Ryder Cup year, Fáilte Ireland will treble its golf marketing effort overseas to make the most of this invaluable opportunity for Irish tourism.'
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Further Information:
Fiona Scott, Media & PR Manager, Tourism Ireland:
01-476-3429