Tourism Ireland Plan To Promote Ireland Overseas
Tourism Ireland has launched details of its new three-year strategy for 2020-2022 and its marketing plans to promote the island of Ireland overseas in 2020. The aim is to grow overseas tourism revenue to €6.54 billion (+13%) and visitor numbers to 12 million (+7%), by 2022.
The 2020-2022 strategy has been designed to be both flexible and sustainable – while delivering further growth in overseas tourism and supporting the industry across the island of Ireland. Tourism Ireland aims to spread the benefits of tourism more broadly across the island of Ireland on a year-round basis and to address the issues of capacity, to ensure the visitor experience continues to be world-class. The new strategy is built on a set of sustainable destination marketing principles.
Phase two of Tourism Ireland’s global campaign – ‘Fill Your Heart With Ireland’ – will be rolled out in over 20 markets around the globe in 2020. It will continue to refresh and reinvigorate the presentation of the island of Ireland overseas. As in phase one of the campaign, the new ad features less visited attractions and locations – including Trim Castle, Waterford Greenway, EPIC – the Irish Emigration Museum and Rathlin Island – and will highlight the passions that research shows motivate our target audience, such as landscapes and heritage; and will dial up activities like walking, cycling and kayaking.
The period 2020-2022 will see Tourism Ireland transform its digital platforms and re-develop its entire suite of Ireland.com websites – which attracted more than 23 million visits last year – to ensure its digital marketing continues to be ‘best in class’ in the 2020s. It will use big data and artificial intelligence to reach potential visitors; this new technology will also allow Tourism Ireland to re-target visitors and potential visitors with personalised messages and offers, designed to appeal to their specific interests.
2019 was a very mixed experience for Irish tourism, with weaker demand and the continued uncertainty around Brexit giving rise to consumer concern in Britain and some Mainland European markets. There was also a deterioration in air access capacity last year. Latest estimates indicate that, by year end, revenue generated by international visitors was around €5.78 billion (-1.4% on last year), with some 11.17 million
people having visited the island of Ireland (0%).
2020 will undoubtedly continue to present some challenges – not least the ongoing uncertainty around Brexit, which is likely to continue to impact on consumer confidence and, in turn, on travel from Britain and some Mainland European markets. Other challenges may include economic and geo-political uncertainty, as well as constraints on the availability of aircraft (particularly relating to the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX).
While recognising the various risks and challenges, Tourism Ireland believes that growth in overseas tourism can be achieved. By 2022, the aim is to grow overseas tourism revenue to €6.54 billion (+13%) and visitor numbers to 12 million (+7%).
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: “It is not enough to simply target growth at all costs and our new, three-year strategy is built on a set of sustainable destination marketing principles. These principles will underpin all of Tourism Ireland’s activities and are reflected in our renewed emphasis on driving business to the regions and ensuring the benefits of tourism growth are distributed right around the island of Ireland, on a year-round basis.
By applying these principles and through working with our partners on wider sustainability issues, we are confident that overseas tourism will help communities to prosper, while our overseas visitors continue to enjoy a great holiday experience.
“Tourism Ireland will continue to raise awareness of the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland’s Ancient East around the world. We will highlight inspirational events like Taste the Island, Galway 2020 and Púca. Our aim is to spread the success of overseas tourism throughout the year and around the entire island of Ireland – ensuring we maintain our renowned welcome and superb visitor experience.”
Tourism Ireland will continue to promote the island of Ireland in both established and key emerging markets, to mitigate risk and ensure long-term market diversification. As the organisation’s marketing techniques evolve, so do the opportunities for more nuanced customer segmentation. In 2020, Tourism Ireland will review its core segments – ‘culturally curious’ and ‘social energisers’. It will also assess the future potential of special niche segments and special interest groups – including soft adventure, Diaspora and LGBT+. It will continue to grow Ireland’s share of luxury travel from key markets.