Tourism Ireland's Helen Cole & Alison Metcalfe with William Montana of CIE Tours
Mary Heron, Aer Lingus with Cynthia Farrill, Air Canada
Vanessa Mateus of Travel Alerts with Ensemble Travel Group's Lindsay Pearlman
Late September is perhaps the perfect time to talk about increasing shoulder season traffic. That, and several other initiatives that Tourism Ireland is undertaking were the focus of a presentation to the trade and dignitaries this week at Toronto’s tony Four Seasons Hotel.
“Ask anyone in Ireland and they’ll say ‘There are Canadians everywhere!’” said Alison Metcalfe who heads Tourism Ireland for North America and was a familiar face to many in the crowd. “We are expecting a growth of 25% in Canadian visitors between last year and this and are looking at an estimated 156,000 total for 2014.”
Increased lift including WestJet’s hugely popular service from St. John’s (and we all know it’s all about lift) can be at least partially credited for the big numbers. The board will continue to target Ontario but also set its sights on Alberta and B.C., stating that the average Canadian traveller to Ireland is well-travelled, loves the cultural connection and is 45+.
Not surprisingly, Ireland is emphasizing its closeness to Canada (“We’re the next parish over from Newfoundland,” as Metcalfe put it) and increasingly positioning itself as a standalone destination – i.e. not part of an extended tour to Europe or even in combination with Britain.
Researcher David Thexton pointed out that “A trip to Europe is a big deal with lots of planning and complexity. Ireland is a unique product where there’s no language problem and you can instantly immerse yourself in the culture – get under the blanket, as we like to say. So a trip there can be positioned as more of a ‘getaway’ of 5 or 6 days.”
All good news for Ireland, where tourism is the largest industry, employing some 200,000. “Every nook and cranny in Ireland benefits from tourism,” Metcalfe told me. And good for them for recognizing that.
