All Ireland tourism campaign is launched

A NEW All Ireland project which will promote the island as a single destination for high spending tourists has been unveiled in Dublin.

The £30 million investment also includes a new logo, an interactive internet site and an international television advertising campaign promoting the island as a clean, green and "emotional" holiday experience.

The initiative follows a decision made early last year to create a "Tourism Brand Ireland" which would unify the efforts of Bord Failte, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and tourism industry interests on both sides of the Border.

The promotional material alone has cost £3 million, of which the NITB contributed £500,000. A further £10 million is to be spent on media space over the next five years.

Videos of the campaign were shown to industry representatives yesterday at an event attended by the Minister for Tourism, Mr Kenny, and the Northern Ireland Minister for Agriculture and Economic Affairs, Baroness Denton, as well as senior executives of Bord Failte and the NITB.

The television advertisements have been edited to make four different versions, to reflect local variations in the markets of the UK, US, France and Germany. They include footage of the Cliffs of Moher, the Skelligs, the Giant's Causeway and the Carrick a rede rope bridge, along with a number of unusual and visually dramatic scenes from Irish life.

The soundtrack to all the advertisements is the Cranberries' song Dreams, to which the producers have acquired rights. The films were shot by a London company, D Films. The award of the £1.75 million contract to a foreign company earlier this year attracted criticism from Irish film interests.

Mr Noel Toolan, international marketing director for Bord Failte, said the new strategy built on a situation where visitor numbers had surpassed population on both sides of the Border. It was a move away from "just counting heads" towards addressing issues like seasonality, regionality and the "yield" of tourism.

Mr Kenny said that, while "we could be forgiven for thinking that this is not the right time to be changing our strategy", he believed the initiative would be a turning point not just for Irish tourism, but for Ireland as a whole. "The island of Ireland has everything to gain from promoting itself as a collective entity in brand marketing terms around the world.

"I believe that Tourism Brand Ireland has the potential to make an enormous contribution to the ongoing search for a lasting peace on this island of ours.

He said growth in tourism here was running at seven times the European average and the industry had accounted for 30 per cent of all new jobs since 1988.

Baroness Denton said the campaign could have major benefits for Northern Ireland. "We estimate potential additional revenue in the region of £27 million in the next three years alone. The expenditure could generate an additional 720 jobs sustained by visitor spend."

She added that while this year had been a "great disappointment" to those involved in Northern Ireland tourism, the level of investment in the industry remained strong and visitor numbers were still well above pre ceasefire levels.

The visual imagery in the new campaign went beyond traditional concepts of Ireland, the baroness said. "It is a fresh, exciting and attractive piece of advertising. I believe it has the capability to deliver all that is expected and more."