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17 February, 2023

Tourism Ireland’s executive VP discusses how agents can sell the Emerald Isle

Tourism Ireland treated a gathering of trade and media to a swanky lunch at Manta to launch some exciting new destination tours of Ireland.

Nancy Hromin spoke to the executive VP America & Canada, Alison Metcalfe, about the new opportunities for agents to sell.

Check out the interview below:

Travel Weekly: I am very interested in hearing a bit about you as a senior international Woman in Travel. Tell us a bit about yourself.

Alison Metcalfe: I studied a history degree and my father said to me, ‘you know, just do something you enjoy, but I thought, what is that?! Eventually I went back to university and did a master’s in tourism, marketing management and the university had a good connection to the industry and I landed a role destination management, initially with the British Tourist Authority.

TW: Bad Sisters was a great series set in Ireland. Should Australians go more off the beaten track in Ireland and if so where?

AM: It’s funny you mention Bad Sisters because we now have Sharon Horgan as an ambassador.

And so yes absolutely, off the beaten track is good. The good thing with the Australian market is that not only do you spend a lot but you stay a long time. You are one of our longest staying, 13 days on average. For Northern Ireland, Australians are the third most important market. So you should go off the traditional routes as there is lots of fantastic scenery. You can divide it into different sections so hiking, cycling, touring food trails, this there’s so many things to do You can take wild Atlantic where you can go from the north all the way up around Donegall and then to Northern Ireland. Of course we have coastal route which is breathtaking scenery. So depending upon how active you are, there’s lots of things to do. The links golf is is of great interest to go to Australian golfers.

TW: What are the three key messages that you would like to get through to the trade in Australia?

AM: Well, first of all, it’s a very welcoming destination. I think in terms of what Australians are looking for history and heritage, scenery, warmth and well, quite a unique culture, Ireland is always easy an destination to sell. The second thing is it’s easy to get in touch. The third thing, I suppose is that as the destination it is a year round destination is so the benefits of travelling through the shoulder markets also to be considered.

TW: Tell us more about that, because it’s part of sustainability and choosing to not over tour places, what might be some strategies that Tourism Ireland are considering to continue to be eco friendly?

AM: Certainly, we are encouraging people to travel outside of the peak period, and everything is open. Yes. It’s generally less crowded and you often get better value People have more time for you. We’ve got a temperate climate so you don’t get that extreme. Essentially, it never really gets below freezing. January is probably sort of anything between sort of four and nine degrees Celsius. we want people to know that we’re committed to sustainability and making sure that tourism has a positive impact on local communities. There’s the social and community aspect, and then the environmental impact. So I think it’s given us as we’ve restarted travel 22, this gives us an opportunity to think about what kind of tourism do we want to rebuild that long term sustainable footing, and economic, social and environmental.

TW: What about food?

AM: The culinary experience, the food experience, we want people to have a really good experience across every touchpoint. It’s not just about Michelin star restaurants, we have plenty, of course. But also in the bed and breakfasts, small hotels, cafes that source local products. I think we’ve had a revolution in the whole economy, because over the last 15-20 years, Irish chefs have returned from around the world, they came back to 20 years ago. And there’s a commitment to sourcing local products.

TW: And your famous whiskey tours?

AM: 10 years ago, we had two or three distilleries and now we have 42. Wow. And each tourism trail, each one is different. Each one’s a different district experience. And these all have, you know, visitor centres, they’ve each got their own unique story to tell us the history behind it. A lot of them are offering pairings of foods and the relevance to curated experiences. So the food and drink piece has really come on.

Check out some pics from the event below:

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

Alison Metcalfe tourism ireland