THE MARKETING REQUIREMENTS FOR DUBLIN

Readers will be aware that last December, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport dissolved Dublin Tourism and transfered its activities into Fáilte Ireland. As a result, tourism interests in the capital were concerned that Dublin would loose out in the increasingly competitive city break market, particularly as Fáilte Ireland has no remit to market Irish tourism overseas.
Last March, the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation (ITIC) commissioned Tourism Development International (TDI) to prepare a study on the marketing requirements for tourism in Dublin. This study, published in June, correctly identified a vision for the City that is broader than tourism. It says that Dublin's future as a sustainable city depends on it being an excellent place to live, work, learn, recreate and visit.
The report notes that Dublin's potential as a tourism destination has yet to be fully realised.The achievement of a growth target of 6.2% per year to 2020 would, it suggets, result in an additional 2.7 million overseas visitors, €750 million extra in overseas tourism revenues per annum and 27,000 additional new jobs.
Dublin's main competitors have, according to the report, organisational structures in place to mobilise effective and sustained marketing campaigns for their cities. Despite this, I am surprised at the finding that there is no one model which emerges as ideal for Dublin. For example, the very successful private sector model, established by the city authorities in New York, is now widely copied elsewhere.
The report suggests that a Destination Marketing Alliance for Dublin should be set up within the organisational architecture of Fáilte Ireland, and that new international marketing campaigns would be developed with and executed by Tourism Ireland under Service Level Agreements.
While I wish this initiative well, it's difficult to see how this proposed structure can deliver on the vision for Dublin as a major centre for communications, business, education, enjoyment and investment.

TOURISM IRELAND'S GREENING INITIATIVE

Congratulations to Tourism Ireland on the superb work it is doing to raise Ireland's international profile on St. Patrick's Day. It has persuaded the operators of world famous landmarks to turn their buildings green on March 17th in honour of our patron saint.

This year, Niagara Falls will join Table Mountain, the London Eye, the Empire State Building, the Burj Al Arab and the Sky Tower in Auckland in turning green for the day.

I'm sure that competitor destinations such as Scotland and Wales would love to generate similar publicity on their respective national holidays (St. Andrews Day, November 30th, and St. David's Day, March 1st).

QUEEN ELIZABETH'S VISIT TO IRELAND

The success of the Queen's visit to Ireland has rightly made headlines across the globe. She gave our tourism product an excellent endorsement in first line of her speech at Dublin Castle, with the following words:

'A Uachtaráin agus a chairdre, Prince Philip and I are delighted to be here, to experience at first hand Ireland's world-famous hospitality'.

There were many notable features of her visit, but the one that really struck me was the excellent health that both she and her husband obviously enjoy.

Apparently, 75% of the wealth in the UK is now in the hands of those over 65 years of age (Google Travel and Tourism Conference December 2010). Many of these people enjoy excellent health and offer enormous potential from a tourism perspective. If we really are serious about increasing our tourism numbers and revenue, I suggest that this group is actively targetted in a much more focussed way.

IRISH GOVERNMENT TOURISM POLICY MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Fragmentation has long been a feature of tourism policy development, so it is refreshing to see ministers in the new government acting in a co-ordinated fashion. I have always taken the view that the proper development of the tourism sector is a 'whole of government' issue rather than just one for the tourism minister. Last week, three government ministers made important announcements on tourism as follows:

• Finance Minister, Michael Noonon, made tourism the central pillar of his Jobs Initiative. From July 1st, the VAT rate on restaurant and catering services, hotel and holiday accommodation, cinemas, theatres, museums, fairgrounds, amusement parks, sporting facilities, hairdressing, and printed matter such as brouchers, maps, programmes and newspapers will be reduced from 13.5% to 9% until end-December 2013. Furthmore, the lower rate of employers' PRSI will be halved on jobs that pay up to €356 per week. The €3 air travel tax will also be abolished on a date to be fixed by Order. Increased tourism resources will be made available to Tourism Ireland, working with the three State airports and carriers to promote visitor traffic.
• Justice Minister, Alan Shatter, introduced a 'visa waiver' programme from July 1st to October 2012. This means that holders of UK visas will have them recognised for short stay visits to Ireland. This is an immediate saving of €60 per visitor. The countries included are Belarus, Montenegro, Russian Federation, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, India, China and Uzbekistan.

• Arts Minister, Jimmy Deenihan has set out his wish to acquire Bank of Ireland's historic branch on College Green for use as a major tourist attraction.

This is a very positive start, so I hope that other government departments are beginning to re-assess their contribution to tourism development. These include the departments of enterprise jobs & innovation, education & skills, environment community & local government, public expenditure and reform.

TIPS FROM SIMPLY ZESTY SOCIAL MEDIA

Last week I joined a group of fellow hospitality and tourism lecturers from across the country in Galway to learn about developments in social media.
Despite my best efforts, it can be hard to keep up with what's happening online. Sometimes the only option is to purchase reports from companies like PhoCusWright or attend events such as the Travel Distribution Summit. The only problem with both options is that they are very expensive and beyond current budgets.
So I was glad to get a update from Niall Harbison, someone who knows this business inside out. Niall is the co-founder of Simply Zesty, an online PR and social media agency whose clients include Vodafone, Sony, Nokia and Dublin Tourism.
One of the things that Niall spoke about was the power of the 'group deal', a concept which is taking off in the online world. Essentially, a group deal is a type of pre-paid coupon, offering services or products at a steep discount. The idea is that a company sets the price, the conditions of the deal, and agrees a threshold the distribution company has to meet before it can actually sell the deal. Just one hugely discounted deal is offered every day.  Groupon is the big player in the States and Boardsdeals has started doing something similiar here. Recently, Shelbourne Park greyhound stadium sold 1,039 deals (a night at the dogs for two for €13) and the Village Café Rathmines sold 502 deals (a three course dinner for two plus wine for €35). Hotels, bars and spas are also getting in on the act with similiar offers. While it's great to be able to generate this volume of business, the challenge is to ensure that customers who buy these 'deals' are not treated less favourably than might otherwise be the case.
By the way, if you're interested in the ' Five fundamental trends that will shape social media in 2011' take a look at Niall's post here. Thanks to Paul Murphy in Fáilte Ireland for organising the event.

AIRLINE ANNOUNCMENTS - JANUARY 2010

There was some interesting news from airlines serving Ireland in the first month of 2010 - On the down side.........

• BMI said it will close its aircraft base at Dublin from March 28th. This will reduce the current daily flight schedule to London Heathrow from six per day to four
• Ryanair will also cut the number of aircraft based in Ireland from March 28th. It will base three fewer planes in Dublin (18 to 15). This will reduce its traffic at Dublin Airport from 8.7 million passengers to 6.5 million in the year to March 2011. At Shannon airport, it will base just one aircraft compared to four last year. As a result, passenger numbers are anticipated to fall from a peak of 1.9 million to just 400,000 in 2010. These significant reductions will have a very detrimental effect on tourism revenues this year

On the up side.........

• Continental Airlines announced that it will add four flights a week on its Shannon to Newark route from May 28th to September 8th
• Aer Lingus will increase the number of routes it offers between Ireland and the UK through a new franchise agreement with Aer Arann. Branded Aer Lingus Regional services and sold on Aer Lingus's website, the routes will be operated by Aer Arann. The move will generate greater traffic from Bristol. Blackpool, Cardiff, Doncaster/Sheffield, Durham, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Jersey airports to Dublin and Cork

Separately, Aer Lingus rebranded itself as 'Ireland's Civilised Airline'. This is part of a plan to re-position itself somewhere between low-cost Ryanair and and full-service carriers such as British Airways. Many visitors will welcome the 'civilised' journey Aer Lingus is now promising. Now imagine if genuine hospitality was offered as well? Perhaps it might consider embracing Tourism Ireland's excellent 'Shine' campaign which was launched last year!

CLIFF HOUSE HOTEL & MICHELIN STARS

The Cliff House Hotel, Ardmore, Co. Waterford, is a new entry in the Michelin Guide, Great Britain & Ireland 2010. It received a coveted 'One Star' from the toughest critics in the business. This is a stunning achievement for a property which opened just two years ago. I have been fortunate to visit and know it is very well deserved. Michelin stars are a big deal. Restaurant guests tend to place more trust in them as a mark of quality than in any other guide. So what does Michelin look for? Well, most people are confused and really have no idea. Surprisingly, a lot of what customers consider to be really important is NOT taken into account - warmth of welcome, general ambience, service level, customer experience and the quality of facilities & equipment.

The only criteria Michelin use in awarding a Star are -

• Quality of ingredients
• Skill in preparing them and in combining flavours
• Level of creativity
• Consistency of culinary standards
• Value for money

It then classifies restaurants on a three star rating system -

• One Star - 'A very good restaurant in its own category, a good place to stop on your journey'
• Two Stars - 'Excellent cooking, worth a detour, with specialities and wines of first-class quality'
• Three Stars - 'Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey, where diners eat extremely well, often superbly'

So, what matters to Michelin inspectors is what's on the plate, nothing else! And that's where many chefs get confused.

For chefs, a Michelin star is the ultimate acolade, a culinary Oscar! However, many young chefs mistakingly think they should be cooking for stars rather than for customers and profit. They ought to be encouraged to think otherwise. I don't know if people remember the media fuss when Mint in Ranelagh won its star in 2008? Unfortunately, it closed its doors a year later.

UNHEPLFUL COMMENTS FROM A CHIEF TRAVEL WRITER

Tourism Ireland is embarking on a major UK campaign this year. According to Kate Holmquist, Ronan Keating is even helping out. The tourism body is targetting a 3% increase in UK visitor numbers for 2010 following a 15% decline last year. One of its key actions is to market Ireland as an 'excellent value' destination, to dispel the perception that it is expensive to holiday here. In a survey last year, Hotels.com found that Ireland had the cheapest room rates in western Europe. Average rates have fallen even further since then.

However, not everyone knows this, but one would expect the chief travel writer with The Sunday Times to be informed. But no. Last Sunday, January 10th, Stephen Bleach wrote 'from the room rates at Ireland's hotels, you'd think the Celtic tiger had never stopped roaring'. He added that 'car hire costs a mint, too'.

Travel journalists tend to be a trusted species, especially ones from established newspapers. Their perceived wisdom helps confused holidaymakers make choices. Regretfully, many people in the UK got an innacurate and negative message about the cost of holidaying here last Sunday. Tourism Ireland's job has just got harder. Perhaps Stephen should visit to get the real story!

WORLD TRAVEL MARKET TRENDS REPORT 2009

For those with an interest in global travel trends , Euromonitor International recenly launched its 2009 Report. Global arrivals are expected to decline by 8%, hotels by 16% and air sales by 14% this year. In July, business travel revenues were down by 40% compared with 2008. This has hugely affected scheduled airlines, meetings and incentives, conference organisers, luxury hotel chains and corporate travel agents. A full return to 2007 levels for travel & tourism is not expected until 2013. Meanwhile, today, the CSO revealed that visits to Ireland for September 2009 returned to 2004 levels. The numbers are down 13.9% from September 2008 and down 11.2% for the first nine months of this year. Not surprisingly, Irish people made 10.7% fewer overseas trips in the same period.

TOURISM IN NEW ZEALAND TO GET AN EXTRA $20MILLION THIS YEAR

As the Department of Finance prepares to reduce the budget allocation for tourism marketing, it is notable that the government in New Zealand is doing the opposite. It recently approved an extra $20 million in funding for tourism in 2009/2010. I know it helps that the Prime Minister, John key, is also the 'Minister of Tourism' but it's yet another example of the priority the sector is afforded there.

FutureBrand COUNTRY BRAND INDEX (CBI) features IRELAND

FutureBrand recently published its 2009 Country Brand Index (CBI).

This index ranks 102 countries in terms of their brand strength in tourism.

The 'Top Country Brands Per Association' featured headings such as Art & Culture, Resort and Lodging Options, Safety, Natural Beauty, Ease of Travel, Rest & Relaxation, Nightlife, Shopping, Fine Dining, Families, Outdoor Activities & Sports, Friendly Locals, Value for Money, Standard of Living, Conferences, Quality Products, Desire to Visit/Visit Again, Advanced Technology, Easiest to Do Business In, Environmentalism, Political Freedom and Most Like to Live In.

Ireland is ranked second highest in the 'Friendly Locals' and 'Ease of Travel' categories. Unfortunately, I don't know our overall position as this information is not available in the Executive Summary.

The countries with the best brand strength in tourism are as follows:

• United States
• Canada
• Australia
• New Zealand
• France
• Italy
• Japan
• United Kingdom
• Germany
• Spain

LONELY PLANET LISTS CORK AS A 'TOP TEN' CITY TO VISIT

According to Lonely Planet's Best of Travel Guide 2010, Cork is one of the top ten cities in the world to visit next year. Now isn't that a nice message to convey overseas? As a secondary city with an excellent airport, Cork now has a wonderful opportunity to capitalise on the lucrative European city-break market.

NEW CULTURAL TOURISM STRATEGY FOR DUBLIN

The arts & culture sector must be pleased with the positive media coverage it received recently (see earlier posts). While its success and that of the tourism sector are often interdependent, they are not always interconnected. The Irish Times today reports that Dublin Tourism plan to address this with the launch of its new cultural tourism strategy. It aims to encourage theatres, museums, galleries and other cultural institutions to work more closely with the tourism sector for mutual benefit. The opening of the Grand Canal Theatre next year should provide a stimulus for further integration in addition to events such as Arthur's Day, St. Partick's Festival, Dublin Theatre Festival & the Dublin Film Festival.

'DINE IN DUBLIN' WEEK, OCTOBER 12-18TH

Not one but two Dine in Dublin weeks in 2009! The first one was in April & the second is only days away. Participating restaurants will offer Special Value Menus from 7pm. On the one hand, The Dublin City Business Improvement District deserve a lot of credit for taking the initiative to promote this idea. On the other, it's disappointing to see that many participating restaurants have no mention of it on their own websites! London is also having an inaugural Food Festival this year! London Restaurant Festival is on next week (8-13 Oct). I particularly like the pricing options on offer: Lunch £10 Dinner £15, Lunch £15 Dinner £25 or Lunch £25 Dinner £40. Might just be worth having a look at for 'Dine in Dublin' 2010!

A WEEK OF AWARDS - HOTEL & CATERING REVIEW GOLD MEDAL & GOOD FOOD IRELAND

I was at the Shelbourne Hotel on Monday evening last for the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Awards. It was an excellent event and makes one realise the superb quality that is available across the hospitality sector in Ireland. Dunbrody Country House & Restaurant won the Supreme Award. I was delighted to see The Europe Hotel & Resort in Killarney win the 5* Award. Michael Brennan gave me a tour of the property in August & it looks fantastic after its €100 million makeover. A fellow Killarney property, Killeen House Hotel won the inaugural 'Customer Experience' Award. Owners Geraldine & Michael Rosney run a superb operation and are worthy winners. On Tuesday night at the K-Club, Good Food Ireland announced its 2009 winners. Peter Ward & Maurice Keller were joint winners of the Person of the Year Award while Rathmullan House won the Top Overall Member Award. I was also glad to see my former colleague, Catherine Fulvio, proprietor of the Ballyknocken House & Cookery School win the Regional Member East Award.

NO RECESSION IN IRELAND FOR BAXTER STOREY

The food service market in Ireland has been shaken up in the past 12 months! CatererSearch yesterday reported that BaxterStorey increased its turnover in Ireland by over 140% since 2008. It now operates 41 sites across the country compared with just 14 last year. What an impressive performance in the current environment!

IRISH TOURISM WEEK 2010?

The tourism sector is critical to Ireland's economic future. Yet in the planning, political and media spheres, it does not get the focus and attention it deserves. What if we had a week in 2010 dedicated to raising the profile of the tourism sector in Ireland? The purpose of the week would be to highlight the economic & social contribution of tourism to the Irish economy and to encourage policy makers, decision makers and the private and public sector towards a single integrated and cohesive agenda. We need not look far for inspiration. Scottish Tourism Week, an event organised by the Scottish Tourism Forum, has been running for the past four years. Further afield in New Zealand, the Tourism Industry Conference for 2009 was put on hold with the aim of producing an event as part of a 'Tourism Week' in 2010!

GREAT VALUE IRISH HOTEL PRICES

Hotels.com released its Hotel Price Index (HPI) today covering the period January-June 2009. The HPI tracks the real prices paid per hotel room rather than advertised rates. It finds Ireland was the least expensive country in western Europe for hotel rooms between January & June this year. The average price was €80. This is no surprise to me. Irish hotels have been offering superb value in recent times although this has never been properly communicated to the general public. The media has been allowed to shape the agenda and create the misleading impression that all our prices were way out of line. There is still some work to be done on the food & beverage side. In July, the French government reduced vat rates in restaurants and cafés from 19.6% to 5.5%! So for starters, how about ordering a cut in excise duty on wine and a reduction in vat on food?

THE €65 DINNER MENU

This summer, I was struck by the number of resort hotels offering four course 'table d'Hote' menus at a fixed price of €65. Eating habits are changing. People are more aware of their calorie intake and its impact on their health. Yet this does not seem to be reflected in the offering. The €65 price is not particularly attractive either! So I was interested in an article 'Restaurants shrink their servings and prices as diners think small' from The Times last Saturday. It seems some restaurants in the UK are beginning to reflect this trend with 'petits plats', 'grazing menus' and 'shared platters'. I wonder if perhaps we might we see a change here next summer?

THE LITTLE BOOK OF LUXURY......just beyond Dublin!

If you live in Dublin, fancy a good time but don't want to travel too far, then read on! Barberstown Castle, Killashee House, The Heritage Resort, The K Club, Rathsallagh House, Kildare Village & Town, Newbridge Silverware, The Irish National Stud, Punchestown Racecourse and The Curragh Racecourse have collaborated in an excellent marketing initiative called The Little Book of Luxury. It's superbly produced and worth checking out!