GETTING ACTIVE IN THE GB MARKET
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Getting Involved - Opportunities for Irish Industry Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland provide a range of promotional opportunities, many at little or no cost. Be sure to get involved. 1) Free listing in TCS (Tourism Content System): The call to action for all campaigns in the GB market is www.discoverireland. com* (*from Dec. 2012 new website www.ireland.com/gb) where details of your business can be found. Ensure that your listing on the Fáilte Ireland TCS is optimised as this database is used on discoverireland.com. Email weblistings@ failteireland.ie for more details. 2) Free listing of experience based offers: Develop your
4) Free Publicity: A great media article or blog post about Ireland and your business can help provide the inspiration for someone to decide to take that trip to Ireland! Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland operate an extensive publicity programme in the GB market. They engage with media contacts every day so send your story to the Fáilte Ireland Publicity team and to Tourism Ireland via the ‘Have you got a story to tell?’ application on www.tourismireland. com/industryopportunties and Tourism Ireland will tell the media via the Media Room and their regular news releases and meetings with journalists. If you have a Dublin based business and your target market falls into the Social Energisers segment or Culturally Curious segment, you should also send updates to the Visit Dublin team, visitdublin@failteireland. ie for inclusion in both their media update newsletter and consumer e-zine linked to www.visitdublin.com
experience based offers that are tailored to suit the needs of the GB market and supply them to Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland for inclusion in itineraries via the Industry Opportunities website www.tourismireland.com/industryopportunities. 3) Premium placement in e-zines: A promotional slot on the Tourism Ireland e-zine that goes to 200,000 potential customers. Cost: €100 + vat.
5) Search Engine Optimisation: To make the most of your investment you could ‘piggyback’ on the activities of Tourism Ireland. For example, the Irish Open is held every year and Tourism Ireland in conjunction with Fáilte Ireland uses this opportunity to grow interest and raise awareness of golf holidays in Ireland. To leverage this you could develop special packages for promotion on www.discoverireland.com* (*from Dec. 2012 new website www.ireland.com/gb). You can build on this opportunity by updating the content on your website to include the ‘Irish Open’, ensuring that the content is tagged for SEO purposes. When potential visitors search for ‘Irish Open’ it is more likely that your website will appear high up on the search engine results page (SERP).
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Get involved with the overseas publicity programme In 2011 Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland worked together to secure coverage for the island of Ireland in 1,700 media items in GB (with an equivalent advertising value of €139 million)
Press releases and bulletins Send information on new products and developments or even new angles on existing products to Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland via the industry opportunities website, www.tourismireland.com/ industryopportunities, for potential inclusion in press releases and press bulletins.
including a dedicated campaign around the visit of Her Majesty
Competition prizes
Queen Elizabeth II.
If you wish to supply competition prizes for media promotions
Involving yourself in publicity activities is an easy and inexpensive way to get your product known. There are many ways to get involved:
use the contact details below. A prize is often a good way of securing editorial coverage and additional value can also often be negotiated. Opportunities vary, but if you register your interest Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland can contact you as they arise.
Media visits
Fáilte Ireland Dublin Publicity Contacts
Itineraries for media visits are organised by Fáilte Ireland
Rory Mathews
Publicity Department. Send information on your business and new products to Fáilte Ireland for inclusion in media itineraries, where appropriate. See below for contact details. Tourism Ireland’s ‘Media Room’ provides British Journalists with up to date information about what’s happening in Ireland. The site will profile the main events taking place in Ireland as well as any interesting stories that are appealing to the GB press. Journalists who sign up to the site will receive regular updates, keeping them informed about all things in Ireland. By sending your press releases to Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland publicity teams, your story could appear on the Media
rory.mathews@failteireland.ie Tel: 01 884 7156
Tourism Ireland Publicity Contacts London - Coman Kenny ckenny@tourismireland.com Tel: +44 207 518 0800 Dublin – Emma Gorman
Room, depending on its relevance to the GB market.
egorman@tourismireland.com
For more tips and advice on getting publicity coverage
Tel: +353 1 476 3424
for your business visit www.failteireland.ie
Fáilte Ireland has developed a full suite of business supports to help you get your message right for the GB consumer. Make sure to visit www.failteireland.ie before you communicate to make sure your message resonates with the GB consumer and you make the most of these opportunities.
Getting Active In The GB Market
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Familiarisation (Fam) trips for GB Travel Trade In 2012, Tourism Ireland invited over 110 GB travel agents and tour operators to Ireland to offer them first hand experience of Ireland’s diverse tourism products. Their itineraries are organised by Fáilte Ireland. You can get involved by hosting visits from overseas trade partners which will give existing or potential overseas trade partners an opportunity to sample your product. If you are interested, please contact the relevant contact listed below.
Sales Connect GB Sales Connect GB is an industry focussed business support which has been developed to enable you to better understand, target and grow your business from Great Britain (GB). It provides new and unique insights into GB visitors and offers a range of practical supports and advice for you. The tools and supports have been developed specifically with the GB consumer in mind, and can help you to develop your own bespoke plan for attracting visitors from GB. Details on the full range of dedicated on and offline business supports such as Web Internationalisation, Mobile Readiness, Bundling for GB can be found on www.failteireland. ie or contact your local Fáilte Ireland office to find out more.
Fáilte Ireland Contacts for Trade Fam Trips Rory Mathews rory.mathews@failteireland.ie Tel: 01 884 7156
Tourism Ireland Trade Contacts Miriam O’ Connell – Industry Activation Manager moconnell@tourismireland.com Tel: 00 44 20 7518 0803
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Trade and Consumer Promotions Overseas Promotions Fairs, workshops and events are an excellent opportunity for the Irish industry to meet face-to-face with British tour operators, travel agents, consumers and travel media. Each year Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland participates in over 20 trade and consumer promotions in Britain.
These are made up of a mix of •
Trade Only Events e.g. World Travel Market; BOBI (Best of Britain and Ireland)
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Consumer Shows e.g. Goodwood Revival
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Dedicated Ireland Promotions e.g. Shopping Centre Promotions
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Business Tourism Events e.g. Venue and Events; CONFEX
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Golf Specific Events e.g. The Open; Golf Live
All fairs, workshops and events are featured on www.tourismireland. com/industryopportunities. Republic of Ireland industry can register via Fáilte Ireland on www.promotionsireland.ie.
In-Ireland Promotions Fáilte Ireland and the NITB organise the workshop events and arrangements on the island of Ireland. These are generally organised on the ‘workshop’ model, and allow the Irish industry to meet ten or more potential buyers in one day, without the expense of overseas travel. The biggest of these in-Ireland annual events are Meitheal (RoI) and Meet the Buyer (NI) which usually takes place in April each year giving industry partners on the island of Ireland the opportunity to meet with approximately 240 travel trade buyers from 23 countries over a number of days. Other in-Ireland workshops are organised annually in different locations throughout Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland recruitment for overseas and in-Ireland promotions is done by Fáilte Ireland via www.promotionsireland.ie, so register your interest to keep up to date with opportunities and listings. For tips and advice on attending sales missions and doing sales calls overseas see www.failteireland.ie
Getting Active In The GB Market
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