Tourism Ireland spent over €2.4 million on a campaign to attract environmentally conscious visitors who were looking for a “slower paced, more immersive holiday”.
The tourism promotion agency said that half of visitors to Ireland did not hire a car and were primed for “sustainability messaging”. The Ireland Unrushed campaign looked to tap in to what were called “enrichment explorers” searching for experiences rather than low-cost travel.
Tourism Ireland said the campaign cost €2.44 million, with €2.14 million of that spent on paid advertising in 13 different countries, mainly in Europe and North America.
A sum of €169,000 was paid for video production and preparing content for local markets while €126,000 was spent on “in-market activations”.
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Tourism Ireland had originally intended to spend just €1 million on the campaign. However, they said: “Due to strong advance creative testing with audiences and a strong response from our tourism industry partners, we decided to [increase] our investment.”
The campaign focused on six areas including the Causeway Coast, the Westport to Achill Greenway, the coastal villages of Dublin and Belfast, and culinary experiences in Cork.
A creative brief, released under FOI, said 50 per cent of visitors to Ireland were happy to pay more for sustainable accommodation and experiences. An even larger number, 58 per cent, wanted to learn about the sustainable practices of the country and the places they planned to visit, it said.
“The brief is to propose a paid campaign that drives awareness of Ireland as a destination with a wealth of sustainable transport and tourism experiences and promotes greater dwell time in a region,” it said.
The document said Tourism Ireland’s target audience preferred hopping on a bus or train and going walking and hiking rather than driving everywhere. It said the campaign should use inspirational journeys with nods to railways and coach trips.
The brief said Tourism Ireland could also look at “influencer partners” to help generate content and benefit from their reach.
It said the objective was to “land a new vision of what holidaying in Ireland can be by showcasing [a] wide breadth of sustainable experiences that allows for a slower paced, more immersive holiday.”
Asked about the campaign, Tourism Ireland said that, based on initial results, it had a reach of 121 million people with sharing on social media in excess of 3.3 million accounts.
A spokeswoman said: “In early testing, the campaign achieved a ‘persuasion score’ of over 90 per cent, a measure of its ability to drive a change in consumer consideration for the island of Ireland.”
