Eoin Gavin, president, Shannon Chamber (left) pictured at Dromoland Castle Hotel with Alice Mansergh, chief executive, Tourism Ireland; Helen Downes, CEO, Shannon Chamber; and Stephen Hanley, general manager, Clare Tourism Development (East). Photograph by Eamon Ward

5.6% annual increase in tourism to 2030, including 6.5% across regions and seasons…Tourism Ireland’s vision

The eight million people who visited the island of Ireland in 2023, spending €6.4 billion during their stay, may have spent as long as five hours in research mode, visiting 277 web pages in the process, prior to selecting Ireland as their preferred holiday destination.

This was just one of the many interesting nuggets of information imparted by the chief executive of Tourism Ireland, Alice Mansergh, when she delivered the keynote address at the Shannon Chamber President’s lunch in Dromoland Castle Hotel last week.

Describing herself as a ‘staycation nerd,’ Ms Mansergh is ideally placed to lead the team charged with promoting the island of Ireland overseas. With the tourism sector supporting 300,000 jobs, seven out of ten outside Dublin and Belfast and two out of three depending on overseas tourism, it is little wonder that Tourism Ireland’s focus is on delivering a 5.6% annual increase in overseas visitor numbers to 2030, including a 6.5% year-on-year increase across regions and seasons.

Ms Mansergh said that this will be achieved through inspiring visitors and strengthening partnerships, through co-operative marketing with industry stakeholders, and through supporting airlines with strategic route marketing.

“Tourism is a great act of teamwork,” she stated, adding that while Tourism Ireland can ‘tell the story’, it does not own ‘brand Ireland’, the commercial transaction, or the customer interaction, and relies on air and sea carriers, hotels, activity providers, partner agencies and cultural players, among others, to deliver on the ground.

Referring to the latest trends in tourism, she pointed to low-carbon itineraries, sustainable experiences and accommodation as offering potential, given that a recent ‘slow tourism’ campaign generated 11.8 million ‘opportunities to see’ in Germany.

Seasonal tourism also offers potential, given the payback from campaigns centred on festivals, such as St Patrick’s Day (230 million reach and 100,000 visitors), Halloween (200 million reach and 14 million campaign video views on YouTube).

With a social media following of seven million fans, Tourism Ireland is tuned into the benefits this medium offers and, while aware that interaction drives broader awareness, the team is also conscious that time away from the screen while on holiday is slowly becoming the new luxury, with in-destination real-life experiences essential.

Experiences on this nature are ever present in the Shannon region, as outlined by Stephen Hanley, general manager, Clare Tourism Development (East).

Speaking at the luncheon, he gave an overview of the improvements made at key tourism products in the company’s portfolio – Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, Craggaunowen Castle and Crannog, Knappogue Castle and Gardens and Inis Cealtra, Ireland’s Holy Island. He also gave some insights into what is yet to come, such as a restaurant development and a new museum dedicated to Dr Brendan O’Regan at Bunratty; a playground development and a range of new events at Craggaunowen; the opening of a five-star residence and the reopening of the formal gardens and a castle courtyard project in Knappogue; and some amazing plans for Inis Cealtra including a rectory with café and interactive museum and island tours commencing in 2025.

“Our seven visitor attractions welcomed two million visitors in 2024; that is quite a statistic,” he added.

Shannon Chamber President Eoin Gavin was fulsome in his praise for the tourism sector in the region.

“We have an amazing product range here in this region, and an international airport on our doorstep. We want visitors to fly Shannon, stay in the region to absorb its beauty and culture and then visit other parts of Ireland.

“All players in the entire tourism sector work tirelessly to ensure their products are continuously upgraded and marketed aggressively. That’s why we need to encourage visitors to stay in the regions they visit rather than make day trips with a resultant insignificant injection into the local economy,” he added.

Shannon Chamber President’s lunch, sponsored by Clare Tourism East and supported by Visit Clare and Griffith College, was the concluding event in Shannon Chamber’s busy calendar for 2024, which included the delivery of 32 events, as well as 10 events and a conference during Sustainability Week, via its Mid-West Sustainability Network, and 3 workshops and a conference via its Mid-West Lean Network. The Chamber also delivered 97 training programmes via its Skillnet business network, part-funded by Skillnet Ireland.