Martina says new tourism strategy about telling a story
WITH a promotional campaign around story telling, it’s hard to imagine a better person to sell Ireland’s Ancient East that Martina O’Dwyer who has recently returned to Dundalk as a Failte Ireland business development trade engagement advisor.
The Carlow native who now lives in Monasterboice, is delighted to be back in familiar territory.
Martina worked here before with the Regional Tourism Authority and later with Failte Ireland. She was subsequently involved in the in-depth process which led to the setting up of the Ireland’s Ancient East marketing campaign to sell that part of the country which is neither Dublin or the Wild Atlantic Way to overseas tourists.
It is, she explains, part of the strategy to sell Ireland post recession and was developed after extensive research into what attracts overseas visitors to Ireland.
‘About three years ago we began looking at how to sell the east side of the country and at that time I moved to the international leisure sales area. We carried out extensive research with overseas operatives and visitor agencies about the east coast and what attracts people to Ireland and also spoke to businesses who were successfully attracting visitors from overseas, hoteliers, visitor attractions who were going out selling and giving visitors what they wanted.’
It this research which led to Ireland’s Ancient East which promotes Ireland’s greatest asset, its people, says Martina.
‘Visitors still say that the most attractive thing about Ireland is our people and their engagement with people,’ she explains. ‘ The concept of Ireland’s Ancient East is to support the physical heritage with the concept of stories from the best story tellers in the world.’
‘We don’t have the best castles, we don’t have the most dramatic landscapes, and on their own they are not compelling enough to draw overseas visitors but the campaign focuses on Irish people telling the stories behind our heritage and scenery.’
An example of how this can be done is the advertisement featuring Roche Castle which forms part of the Ireland’s Ancient East marketing campaign, which is mainly targeted at the overseas market.
‘It’s the overseas market whi ch helps grow the economy and brings money into the country,’ says Martina. ‘ Up until now, Ireland was marketed in a fragmented way, focusing on small areas, while now we are promoting just three areas, Dublin, the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland’s Ancient East.’
The Wild Atlantic Way has already proven very successful and Martina is confident that Ireland’s Ancient East will reap similar awards for tourism from Louth to East Cork.
‘My interest has always been in working with the trade on the ground, bringing it life so it was wonderful to have been involved with the evolution of the brand and to be now working with the trade in Louth and for them to see the benefits of visitors coming in.’
‘ There has been a really positive response from the trade in Louth,’ she says. She was delighted to see a large contingent from Louth at the last big trade briefing in Mount Juliet, Kilkenny.
‘People might think that the region is very big, but overseas visitors are used to driving long distances which is why we have designed the campaign around different themes which they can explore.’
‘ The local authorities have been very supportive with the new signs which are going up around the country,’ she continues. ‘ There are over 400 Welcome signs being erected so visitors know what attractions there are in each area. The idea is to increase the dwell time, so that when they get into an area with a big attraction, it will cross sell to the smaller attractions. We don’t want them stopping in Carlingford and whizzing down to Newgrange, so we will be cross selling what there is to do in Dundalk and Drogheda.’
‘We are also moving away from geographical locations to themes as the international visitor doesn’t recognise county boundaries,’ she continues. ‘Our job is to tell them the big stories in this part of Ireland, so for example we have a Viking story in Waterford which also refers to Carlingford.’
Alongside the legends and folk stories, the campaign wants people to tell the small stories which make their shop, pub, town or village different.
‘Everyone knows these stories but we have to bring them out so that the visitor can hear them.’
Since coming back to work in the county, Martina has been meeting with groups in Dundalk and Carlingford and is encour- aging people to see their hometown as a visitor would and recognise the things which tourists would like to see.
‘When we got to France or Italy, we visit churches yet people probably wouldn’t think of St Patrick’s Church as a tourist attraction yet it is,’ she explains.
The campaign is supported by the first mobile tourism website which tourists can use as they travel around Ireland.
‘ The demands of tourists are changing, they like to get information and make bookings on the move so this website has been designed especially to be used on mobile phones.’
Failte Ireland has also introduced a new ‘Welcome’ standard to meet the demands for alternative accommodation like yurts, shepherds’ huts, and camping barns.
‘Overseas visitors spend about twice as much per day than the domestic tourist so it is very important to attract them here,’ she says. ‘ Tourism brings so many benefits to the local community, providing employment for a whole range of people from food producers and chefs to students getting part-time work,’
There are, she admits, challenge to the tourism industry, particularly with Brexit, but she Marpoints out that it is a resilient industry which has overcome setbacks such as volcanic ash storms and foot and mouth.
And, she says there is a long term commitment to the campaign with €18million pledged to it under the programme for Government.