News Release -
Shannon Development Tourism Officer for Co. Clare is focused on promoting the county in the national and international tourism marketplace
Siobhan King was appointed Tourism Officer for Co. Clare by Shannon Development in January 2007. In her new role Siobhan has set herself three objectives; to support the tourism trade in Clare to maximise all opportunities, to support Clare tourism enterprises to become more competitive, and to market and promote Clare as a key destination in Ireland and overseas.
“Since my appointment I have been involved in all aspects of tourism promotion and development in the county becoming a member of Clare Tourism Forum, Clare Tourist Council and East Clare Tourism and working closely with these groups to ensure co-operation and cohesion in promoting the County as a premier tourism destination,” says Ms. King.
Ms. King is working with these tourism groups to support them to achieve their objectives and is playing her part in bringing a number of exciting tourism projects to fruition. Ms. King also works with tourism providers in the County to support them develop and market their products. This is done in a co-operative partnership approach which ensures that groups and individuals who come onboard with promotions are also kept briefed on new developments and promotional opportunities.
A feature of the job is to ensure that tourism product providers in the county are aware of new and existing initiatives and this is achieved by liaising with the Product Development area of Shannon Development and an example of this is her work with the Mid Clare Way Steering Group and the recently launched Shannon Region Trails Programme. The Lough Derg Steering Group who are involved in the development of all aspects of tourism along this waterway is a further example.
She has also been looking at ways of exposing the County to different tourism markets, nationally and internationally. With this in mind Siobhan has already been involved with promoting Co. Clare through a variety of initiatives. In association with the Shannon Development Press Office she has briefed a number of high profile tourism media groups from France, Spain and England.
These groups comprised TV, print and radio travel journalists all of whom visited the many attractions in the region and provided excellent coverage in their respective Countries on the Region. Among the most recent was a’ Discovery Channel’ film crew who will feature the Cliffs of Moher, Doolin, heart of the Burren and showcase Dromoland & Knappogue Castle, while also featuring Shannon Airport. This programme will be shown throughout the Discovery Family worldwide which claims to reach 1 billion people, it is expected to air during the first quarter of 2008. Siobhan and her Shannon Development colleagues have also worked on two RTE Nationwide features on Co. Clare.
During the year, working closely with her colleagues in the Tourism Marketing Department of Shannon Development, she has co-ordinated the promotion of the County further through Shopping Centre Promotions, development of incentive packages, radio campaigns and print production working with the trade and Local Authorities. She has also promoted Co. Clare to a number of tourism trade groups, and promoted the County at this year’s Holiday World Shows which attracted over 50,000 visitors.
Part of Shannon Development’s domestic marketing and PR focus for 2007 has been to increase Irish visitor numbers to the area and this has been done through a number of different mediums including e-marketing, advertising (print, radio, TV), trade and consumer promotions media fams and direct consumer targeting. A number of initiatives have been undertaken including a home holiday campaign in January with a series of radio adverts running across 2FM, Radio 1 and Today FM, with a combined audience of almost 2 million. Holiday prize giveaways on Ronan Collins Show (Radio 1), The Matt Cooper Show (Today FM) and Colm & Jim Jim Breakfast show (2FM) – all promotions included on air mentions of the Shannon Region which included things to do, website address and radio adverts on the region prior to and during the promotion.
Among the other new initiatives Shannon Development is running is a TV campaign which will reach 1.4 million viewers on Setanta and run daily during prime time TV viewing in October. They have also been working with the ‘RTE Guide’ magazine on two promotions which attracted over 15,000 entries to a Shannon Region competition.
During the year Ms. King and her colleagues identified of a number of niche markets to target which culminated in the production of a new ‘Special Offers Brochure’, ‘Over 50’s brochure’ and a ‘Discount booklet’. She was also involved in devising a feature for the Travel supplement of the ‘Sunday World’ which included a quarter page advert promoting Ennis Fashion Week.
Ms. King promoted Co. Clare at a number of tourism promotions during the year among them: the Holiday World, Belfast, Dublin & Limerick; Shopping Centre Promotions in Cork, Kildare & Newry; Dublin Horse Show; the National Ploughing Championship and the Milwaukee Irish Fest in Chicago
“An essential part of the Tourism Officers role is to ensure that Co. Clare maintains and grows its tourism market share and is a key ingredient in the Shannon Region Tourism portfolio. Shannon Development’s aim is to ensure that the Region becomes a recognised world class location in which to live, work, invest and spend leisure time, and the Company believes that tourism and partnership has a vital role to play in achieving this aim. This is where I have been focusing and will continue to work with the tourism trade to achieve this objective,” says Ms. King.
Ms. King is based in the company’s office at the Information Age Park Ennis and may be contacted at 065 6895004
A Discovery Channel Film Crew is pictured here with Siobhan King, Shannon Development Tourism Officer for County Clare, during part of a recent film shoot in the Burren Region
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For further information please contact:
Nandi O’Sullivan
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