Tag Archives: Fáilte Ireland

Applications can now be made for funding under the Community Tourism Initiative for the Diaspora. The initiative, launched last year, builds on the community involvement legacy of The Gathering 2013 and is a joint partnership between Clare County Council, IPB Insurance and Fáilte Ireland. The scheme provides a national fund of €1m to support local community-based events and festivals each year. Last year, 31 local events were supported in Clare, attracting over 1,400 visitors from overseas. Administered locally by Clare County Council, the application process will close on March 31. Interested parties can contact Ailish McMahon, Tourism & Community Department, Clare County Council. Cthaoirleach of Clare County Council, John Crowe said, “We all witnessed the benefits from The Gathering and this scheme gives us an opportunity to build on its legacy. The Community Tourism Initiative allows us to sustain many of the grass roots networks which sprang to life during The Gathering in Clare and sustain an infrastructure of events …

Fáilte Ireland met members of the Clare tourism industry in the Old Ground Hotel, Ennis, on Thursday, as part of a series of briefings, with a focus on the Wild Atlantic Way. This year, the national tourism authority will be upping the ante with a mixture of further developments for the attraction and greater promotion to key overseas markets. Last year, Fáilte Ireland invested €10 million rolling out the route, which stretches from the Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal to Kinsale in County Cork and instantly the new attraction garnered significant interest overseas. Over its first year in existence, Fálte Ireland has been working to further develop the Wild Atlantic Way and has made significant progress to date. A signage plan has been implemented for the entire route and all the directional signage along the route has been in place since the end of May 2014. At the briefing Fiona Monaghan, Fáilte Ireland’s head of the Wild Atlantic Way, said 2015, …

Minister of State for Tourism, Michael Ring has announced the provision of an additional €850,000 for Fáilte Ireland, much of which will be invested in developing the web presence of the Wild Atlantic Way and Dublin. The funding is part of the Supplementary Estimate for the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, which was recently announced by Minister Paschal Donohoe. “The provision of €850,000 to Fáilte Ireland as part of the Supplementary Estimate will be used to support IT investments, including promoting the Wild Atlantic Way and Dublin. This will ensure that marketing and social media aspects of promotion can be prioritised so that the message about Ireland’s attractiveness is delivered loud and clear. This will allow us to continue to build on the strong growth we have seen in tourism in 2014.” The Government has already provided €8 million in funding for the Wild Atlantic Way this year to establish discovery points and enhance signage as well as other …

A number of Clare tourism enterprises were in the vanguard of a major tourism sales drive when the Irish tourism sector met with top overseas travel buyers this week. The second in a series of targeted 2015 sales drive of international tourism workshops focused on the British coach tour sector, with Clare businesses such as The Armada Hotel, the Cliffs of Moher and Doolin2 Aran Ferries pitching directly to agents from the British market. The workshop saw a total of 86 Irish tourism trade meet with 18 GB Coach and Group Operators who were very keen to develop business contacts and business relationships with Ireland. Martina Bromley, head of sales with Fáilte Ireland, stressed the importance of hosting events like these and the benefits for the Irish trade involved. “We are delighted to welcome these important GB Coach and Group Operators to our shore as they plan their 2015 packages. These overseas agents have the capacity to deliver significant amounts …

County Clare was well represented among a 78-strong Irish tourism industry group at a Fáilte Ireland-hosted workshop targeted at the Canadian market. Dromoland Castle, Doolin 2 Aran Ferries, Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience and Shannon Ferries were involved in the first in a series of custom-made workshops in Clontarf Castle Hotel, Dublin on Friday last. The Canadian Expo workshop saw 78 Irish tourism trade meet with 20 Canadian agents who were very keen to develop business contacts and business relationships with Ireland. The vastness of Canada, and with the agents coming from many locations within Canada, was seen as a great opportunity and very cost effective means for the Industry to meet the agents. Martina Bromley, head of sales with Fáilte Ireland stressed the importance of hosting events like these and the benefits for the Irish trade involved. “We are delighted to welcome these important Canadian travel agents, as they plan their 2015 packages. These overseas agents have the capacity …

THE tourism industry is up 20% on last year in some parts of the county. As the summer draws to a close, former chairman of the Irish Hotels Federation and Lahinch hotelier, Michael Vaughan, has said that, on average across the county, it is up by 5% or 6% and that the hotel sector could be back to 2007 peak levels within the next two years. “It was slow enough at the early part of the year but it improved as we got towards the main months and certainly the Wild Atlantic Way has brought tourists out along the coast, there is no doubt about that. Certainly there has been an improvement of at least 5% and 6% on last year and last year was up too, so we are getting closer to where we were before the bust came about. I think the figure we would love to reach is back to 2007 figures, which was the height of …

FÁILTE Ireland has this week published a comprehensive set of reports capturing holidaymakers’ views of Ireland, including a survey on County Clare. The Fáilte Ireland Holidaymaker Study 2013 analysed the views of nearly 10,000 overseas and domestic holidaymakers, who visited 11 holiday areas across the country between May to October 2013. Visitors explained why they chose a certain destination, how they researched their trip and sourced their information as well as where they stayed, where they chose to eat and what attractions they visited. Of those surveyed, 64% said they would recommend Clare as a tourist destination and of those, 76% recommend it because of its “beautiful scenery and countryside”, while 51% said they would recommend it because of its nice and friendly people. It was the friendliness of local people which stood out most to tourists in their overall experience and the county earned a score of 4.78 out of 5 for this. A close second was its natural …

Fifteen towns and villages from across the country are being considered for the Fáilte Ireland 2014 Tourism Towns Awards and Ennis is in the running in the Large Town Category. On the shortlist with Ennis are Cobh, Kilkenny, Killarney, Trim and Westport. The competition, now in its third year, is designed to recognise Irish towns and villages where the local community goes the extra mile to enhance their appeal to tourists. The selected towns will now be subject over the next few weeks to a series of unannounced inspections from a crack team of independent ‘secret shoppers’ who will visit each location and assess the quality of visitor experience to be had. Kilkenny took home the overall crown in 2013, however 2014 will see a change to the format of the competition with titles awarded to Best Large Town and Best Small Town. The top ten “Highly Commended Tourism Towns” will be announced at the National Tidy Towns Awards later …