TW sits down with Tourism Ireland’s Alison Metcalfe
The state visit of Irish president Michael Higgins saw a large delegation of Irish travel trade partners and Tourism Ireland top brass visiting our shores over the last week.
Chief among their number was Alison Metcalfe (pictured below far right), the newly installed executive vice president, United States & Canada, who also includes Australia and New Zealand in her remit.
Travel Weekly took the opportunity to have a quick chat with Alison just before she jetted off to New Zealand yesterday.
Travel Weekly: Greetings Alison. I trust you’ve enjoyed your stay in Australia. Tell me, how long have you been Tourism Ireland’s head honcho for Australia and New Zealand?
Alison Metcalfe: Thank you, it’s been a terrific week in Australia. I’ve been in the role since June. For Tourism Ireland, Australia was previously included in our new and developing markets segment, alongside countries like China and India, which are managed out of Dubai.
The decision was recently made to include Australia alongside more developed markets like those out of North America, with New York being the base of operations.
Travel Weekly: That sounds logical. Now, can you tell us a bit about the goals of your first trip to Australia as Tourism Ireland’s regional boss?
Alison Metcalfe: Absolutely. The trip has been a great opportunity to meet with the local travel trade and other key stakeholders. We’ve had productive meetings with many of the key carriers based in Australia too.
Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways are all important to us in bringing outbound visitors to Ireland via the Middle East and we’re pleased to see that Cathay Pacific will be offering flights via Hong Kong to Dublin commencing in June next year. In short, we feel there are many opportunities for us to grow outbound visitation to Ireland in the near future.
Travel Weekly: Marvellous. Could you tell us the sorts of things that are going to lure Australians to Ireland in the coming years?
Alison Metcalfe: Yes, there’s plenty coming up. Golfers will be very interested when Northern Ireland hosts the The Open Championship in July 2019 at Royal Portrush. Tourism Ireland also covers Northern Ireland – which isn’t always understood – and about one in three Aussies who visit Ireland also visit Northern Ireland.
And although it’s far from decided, we’ve also got our fingers crossed that our bid for the 2023 Rugby World Cup will be successful – we’ll find out on November 15. If we were to host the Rugby World Cup, it could lead to something in the order of 450,000 inbound visitors, which would be a great boon for tourism.
Travel Weekly: And what is it that keeps Australians coming back to Ireland year after year?
Alison Metcalfe: Well, there’s a lot of shared heritage for starters. And Australians tend to view Ireland as a distant, but familiar, land of rugged beauty. It’s historical, has friendly people and a welcoming culture. There’s plenty to see that you can’t experience anywhere else too.
The Wild Atlantic Way is the longest coastal road in the world, running for 2500km. Plus the Ancient East from Dublin to Cork condenses 5000 years of history into 500 miles. So there’s plenty across the entire island of Ireland to draw Australians.
Travel Weekly: What can you tell us about outbound visitation to Ireland from Australia?
Alison Metcalfe: The outbound market from Australia is doing well, and holding its own against other European destinations. The average length of stay for Aussie visitors is actually 13 days, which is even longer than than the North American markets.
On top of this, 75 per cent of Australians who visit Ireland also visit the United Kingdom – it’s a key gateway for us. So one of our goals is to increase the appeal of Ireland as a ‘bookend’ destination at the start or end of people’s trips to Europe or the UK. There’s lots of potential there.
Travel Weekly: And lastly, what can the local travel trade expect from Tourism Ireland under your watch?
Alison Metcalfe: Our role is to make sure we provide the right product in the right places. On that note, we’re about to roll out a new phase of our destination brand campaign here in February 2018.
We’re determined to provide as much support and education to the retail trade in Australia as possible. We recognise the importance of the travel trade in Australia – which is not the case in all markets – but it is here, and in the US and Canada. So for all the ongoing support, we’re very thankful and look forward to working together more in future.
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