Ireland plots marketing spree

TOURISM Ireland is set to reactivate its presence in the local consumer travel market in the coming months, with strong backing from the Irish Government seeking to reignite the country’s visitation from key markets, including Australia.

The organisation’s acting CEO Siobhan McManamy is in Australia this week, and told Travel Daily the investment in the local market is likely to be about twice that of pre-pandemic levels, thanks to a one-off €30 million boost to the Tourism Ireland global marketing budget.

“Australia is an incredibly important market for us; the average stay of the visitors is over 13 nights,” she said, with Aussie travellers also a key component of Ireland’s sustainable tourism agenda, which seeks to encourage regional dispersal and visitation outside of peak periods.

McManamy was enthusiastic about the prospects for the market having seen the rebound in the local economy during her visit over the last few days.

“If we can get the air capacity back to where we need it to be, the sky’s the limit for us in this market,” she said.

Tourism Ireland Executive VP Alison Metcalfe was also in attendance, and said the global rollout of the Green Button campaign was already showing strong results.

“It will be our biggest ever campaign, it’s the most integrated campaign we’ve ever launched, with television, digital...what we’ll be launching in Australia will be primarily a digital and social campaign in our major markets.

“It’s designed to strengthen that travel intent, and drive conversion...we’ve been inspiring people for two and a half years, now is the time to book,” she said.

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