Business travellers key to tourism targets
Increasing business tourism to Ireland will help meet ambitious targets for boosting visitor numbers and spending in the country, tourism chiefs said today.
Tourism Ireland has set a revenue aim of €4.2bn from foreign visitors for 2006, with 8.5 million people from overseas expected to travel to Ireland.
It has a record €50m available to promote the island of Ireland to overseas markets this year, including adverts run in cinemas to promote the connection to Narnia author CS Lewis.
Fáilte Ireland said it wanted a 20% increase in the income generated from business tourism, which is currently worth €400m, by 2007.
There was a 26% rise in the sector in 2005.
At an industry meeting in Dublin, Fáilte Ireland’s chief executive Shaun Quinn said the increases and the planned development of the National Conference Centre would be good for the capital.
Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Ireland and Dublin Tourism presented their development plans for the coming year to operators in the Dublin region at the meeting.
“The continued development of this sector is very important as a business tourist spends on average 70% more than leisure travellers and many stay on for longer visits around the country,” Mr Quinn said.
“The National Conference Centre will be an important decision to assist in boosting business tourism.
“With a National Conference Centre, Ireland will be well placed to grow the sector substantially by winning more business at the premium end of the international conference market, in particular the incentive business and the association conference segments.
“The high-spending business tourism sector will be transformed with significant spin-offs throughout the industry and beyond Dublin”.
Failte Ireland will be launching a Business Tourism Brand in 2006 and Mr Quinn also said Dublin would receive increased investment for marketing, support and training.
Last year’s 5% increase in visitor numbers and 11% rise in revenue in the capital was good news, but there was no room for complacency, Mr Quinn said.
He said festival development was key to boosting tourism in the city, promoting events such as St Patrick’s Day and the Dublin International Film Festival.
“Activities, attractions and events are central to increasing the visitors’ spend and it is especially important for the industry to configure their accommodation and activity offering to appeal to Irish and overseas tourists,” he said.
Dublin Tourism said it had embraced modern technology as part of its bid to promote the city, launching a series of ‘iWalks’, downloadable podcasts telling the story of Dublin for tourists.
Across the country, Tourism Ireland’s director of brand development and markets Simon Gregory said they would be going all-out to meet the organisation’s ambitious targets.
But he warned factors such as fears over bird flu, weak economies in other countries and increasing access to competing tourist destinations would prove to be challenges.
“North America turned out a weaker than forecasted performance in 2005 and we are currently conducting a root and branch review of this all-important market to see how we can get it back on track this year.
“We are also taking a look at new and developing long-haul markets.
“On the plus side, there will be some growth from Great Britain and continued good growth from Europe. Economies in Asia continue to out-perform Europe and North America, and this will open up new markets in Asia for the island of Ireland,” he said.
