“Recent tourism trends show that the highest tourism growth to the Shannon Region has been from mainland Europe. This changing visitor profile and a dominance of younger/middle age visitors (almost two-thirds of visitors are under 45 years), has led to knock-on changes in demand for products and services. The needs of these new visitors must be met,” he said.
“The importance of the tourism sector to the local economy cannot be overstated. It currently brings over 1 million overseas visitors, 750,000 domestic visitors, and generates €400 million in tourism revenue for the Shannon Region. With spare capacity on routes into Shannon International Airport there is scope for further growth and development,” said Mr. Houlihan.
In response to this challenge Shannon Development has set itself a goal of stimulating additional market demand for the Shannon Airport Gateway, and other regional access points by increasing its exposure of the Shannon Region as a tourist destination. Last year’s the Company’s tourism marketing campaigns reached an estimated 90 million potential visitors world-wide. For 2007 the Company has increased its target considerably to over 120 million. They will do this in a combination of ways including targeted e-marketing and advertising campaigns, attendance at travel, familiarisation visiting by journalists and travel advisors from overseas.
“The e-marketing phenomenon has revolutionised the way the tourism industry does business and the way the consumer books holidays. I am delighted to see that Shannon Development has embraced this challenge and is engaged in a range of e-marketing campaigns and has upgraded its tourism website to entice more visitors.
The challenge for Shannon Development and the tourism industry will be to develop and sustain the Shannon Region as a high quality and competitive tourism destination. To achieve this Shannon Development is working closely with the tourism industry, local & regional bodies, and colleagues in Fáilte Ireland /Tourism Ireland to provide focused, strategic, and practical actions to deal with the critical issues in Tourism. And in its new role the Shannon Region Tourism Development Board will do everything in its power to assist the Company in this endeavour,” said Mr. Houlihan.
The eleven member Tourism Development Board, comprising leading business figures from around the Shannon Region, has been established to advise Shannon Development on the preparation and implementation of a strategic tourism plan for the Shannon Region.
“We welcome the opportunity to work with the new Shannon Region Tourism Development Board. Tourism is a significant contributor to the Irish and Shannon Region economy, and we will be working closely to the board to maximise all opportunities to grow this Region’s tourism market share,” said John King, Heritage and Tourism Director, Shannon Development.
Nandi O’Sullivan
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