O'Donoghue Launches New Strategy to Grow Tourism from North America
Tuesday 24 November 2006. The island of Ireland is no longer just reliant on ancestral links to attract visitors from the United States. It has been notably successful in growing numbers of Americans visitors (+30%), with no Irish connections at all, to holiday here, according to new research from Tourism Ireland.
Growing numbers of visitors are also now more likely to come from the West and South of the US rather than solely from the traditional source market of the North-East and our best prospects for growth lie with frequent travellers to Europe, who are better-educated, better-off urban and suburban dwellers interested in the "finer things".
These changes in the market present both challenges and opportunities for the tourism industry here according to Tourism Minister, John O"Donoghue T.D, who will this evening launch North America: Land of Opportunity - An action plan for growing tourism from the United States and Canada to the island of Ireland.
"We have a sizeable and unique opportunity to further grow Ireland"s share of US leisure visitors to Europe, but the profile and provenance of the visitor is changing. Almost one-in-six of our best prospects live in California, for example, and just over one-third claim Irish ancestry. Their economic profile differs from that of current US-Ireland visitors and marketing efforts must be re-focused to reflect these shifts," said the Minister.
"Closer to home, this review of the market indicates that we need to improve the warmth of our welcome, tackle value-for-money issues and ensure that the packaging and presentation of the holiday offering is more in tune with the needs of a more sophisticated target audience. I welcome this important review and call for a collaborative approach from Agencies and industry to implement the action plan outlined in the document," said Minister O"Donoghue.
The Review found that, while Ireland has enjoyed continuing expansion of air services to/from the US, current high load factors are frustrating demand and hampering visitor growth.
Paul O"Toole, Chief Executive, Tourism Ireland said "Increased capacity is necessary if Ireland is to fully realise its potential from the North American market. This review has identified a number of gateways where increased or new services would significantly improve Ireland"s competitiveness, particularly given the shift in the geographic origin of potential visitors. "Open Skies", allowing for new gateway and more code share opportunities, would undoubtedly benefit tourism to the island of Ireland, although some short-term changes in pattern of arrival and dispersal throughout Ireland can be expected."
He added that the Review recommended securing Shannon as a gateway for the Western Regions and that Tourism Ireland would intensify its marketing of the Western Regions in the United States in the advent of a new 'Open Skies" or Bilateral arrangement.
In the USA, the level of interest in visiting Ireland has never been higher. Over half (56%) of US outbound pleasure travellers say they are "extremely or very likely to visit or re-visit Ireland", according to the research. Nearly half of those, who expressed strong interest in visiting Ireland, say they are likely to make the trip in the next five years.
The top European destinations for Americans are Britain (3.8m); France (2.2m); Italy (2.0m); Germany (1.7m). Spain (1.0m) and Ireland (0.9m) top the next tier of most popular European countries to visit.
Paul O"Toole cautioned that, while the prospects are good, the scale of the challenge in growing the market should not be under-estimated. "The island of Ireland enjoys a consistently high level of awareness of place and people. However, cultural or historical associations, the core appeals of travel to Europe for North Americans appear to be limited in the case of Ireland and this needs to be addressed."
"The marketplace is growing in complexity with more customer segments, a more fragmented media and, of course, ever-increasing competition. We, in Tourism Ireland, are re-aligning our skills and resources to better meet the challenges in the US and Canadian markets and will work with the industry here and trade in North America to maximise the opportunities to grow tourism business to the island of Ireland", he concluded.
North America: Land of Opportunity. An Action Plan for Growing Tourism from the United States and Canada to the Island of Ireland is available to download from www.tourismireland.com/corporate.
Further info:
Fiona Scott, Tourism Ireland, 01-476-3429
NOTES TO EDITORS
The North American market is a crucially important source of visitors and tourism revenue to the island of Ireland. North American visitors stay longer and spend more per head than other nationalities. They spend approximately 60% more than the average, accounting for one in every five euro spent here.
In recent years, the island of Ireland has performed better than most European destinations visited by Americans.
An estimated 890,000 Americans visited the island of Ireland in 2005 of whom almost 70% (approximately 600,000) were on holiday. While visitor numbers in 2005 to the island of Ireland showed no growth over 2004 - visits to Northern Ireland grew while visits to the Republic fell marginally - the estimated performance for 2006 points to 6% growth overall.
American tourism to Ireland more than doubled over the latter half of the 1990s, peaking at almost 1 million in 2000, giving Ireland a 7.4% share of US to Europe travel. Current market share is estimated at 7.1%.
The outbound market from Canada is strong and represents a good opportunity for growth among key segments and also the niche Scots-Irish and Group Travel segments. Strongest prospects lie in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta.
Over the past six years, there has been a marked shift where visitors to Ireland live in the US. The traditionally strong source markets of the North East have declined in absolute and share terms, while the Western and Southern (including South Eastern coast) states have produced growth and are now relatively more important. The Mid-West showed little change over the period.
Ireland's best prospects are sightseer and culture seeking baby boomers who already have been to Europe
The top 15 metropolitan areas (DMAs) of New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, Baltimore, Sacramento/Modesto, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Tampa/St. Pete, Dallas, Houston, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, and Orlando, represent the highest concentration of Ireland"s best prospects.
The education and household income profiles of Ireland"s holiday visitors from the US are high, way above the average within the US population. However, the social class composition of visitors to Ireland continues to be slightly less upscale than the overall US traveller market to Europe.
Ireland, positioned behind the first tier European destinations of London, France, Italy and Germany, enjoys a high level of awareness of place and people.
Images of Ireland are remarkably consistent. Mention of Ireland evokes images of "quaint countryside", "rolling, green hills" and "bad (rainy, cold) weather", "sleepy villages", "castles", "friendly, warm people", "pubs", "Irish whiskey", and "wool sweaters".
However, cultural or historical associations, the core appeals of travel to Europe, appear to be limited in the case of Ireland.
Recent research while endorsing the positive images and appeals of friendly people and scenery, has identified the need to address limited knowledge of "things to do and see"
Negative perceptions include lack of diversity, poor food, too much emphasis on pub culture, bad weather and a low awareness of the appeals of cities/urban areas.
Increased capacity on New York, Boston and Chicago services is necessary if Ireland is to fully realise its potential from the US market. The review has identified a number of gateways where increased or new services would significantly improve Ireland"s competitiveness such as San Francisco; Washington Dulles; Dallas Fort Worth or Houston; Orlando or Miami and more code share opportunities from select off line feeder cities