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Business ambassadors give tourism €33m boost
25 July 2010
Attracting overseas holidaymakers to Ireland may b e tough going, but business tourism is growing due to a significant number of conferences, seminars and business events bookings.
Business conference delegates are estimated to be worth €1,500 each to the economy - three times more than overseas holidaymakers - as they stay an average of six days and are often accompanied by their partners.
Fáilte Ireland’s business tourism unit is working hard behind the scenes to secure as much business from this lucrative sector as possible.
To do this, it is using its conference ambassador programme, which uses key Irish players who have international links to bid for events to be held in Ireland.
Last year, the business tourism unit identified and approached more than 430 individuals in Ireland involved in global organisations and asked them if they would become Fáilte Ireland conference ambassadors. Of these, 75 became ambassadors and are bidding for international conferences to be held here.
This year, the business tourism unit has identified 52 ambassadors, 21 of whom have successfully won the bid to bring a conference in their particular business area to Ireland.
The total value of winning these bids are estimated to be worth €33 million to the Irish economy.
Business tourism unit manager Keelin Fagan said the remaining ambassadors were currently still bidding to win their conferences, as ‘‘this process can be very lengthy’’.
‘‘The success of the business tourism unit is mainly due to the detailed research process, firstly ensuring the conference has the ability to come to Ireland, successfully identifying the Irish person linked to the international association, then contacting them and offering them assistance in winning this conference for Ireland.
‘‘Last year, Fáilte Ireland financially supported 122 conferences, with an estimated economic impact of €87.4 million. We also support smaller conferences that have less than 50 delegates."
The unit has a budget of €4 million - of which €1.2 million is allocated to Tourism Ireland - to promote the country overseas as a business destination. ‘‘We are involved in trade promotions, have industry partners and a conference ambassador fund of €500,000 to assist these people in their bids," said Fagan.
Examples of such ambassadors include Dr Richard Porter, a senior lecturer in biochemistry in Trinity College Dublin, who recently brought 500 international delegates into Ireland for the European Bioenergetics Conference.
There is also Johan Goreck, head of the Globe Forum and co-founder of Skype, who is bringing the Globe Forum to Ireland this year with more than 1,500 delegates expected and an estimated revenue of €2.1 million.
Volunteering Ireland chief executive Elaine Bradley secured the International Association Volunteer Effort (IAVE) biennial conference for the Convention Centre in Dublin, with the aid of the centre’s bureau, Fáilte Ireland and Abbey Conference and Corporate professional organisers.
Bradley said she would ‘‘never have dreamt’’ of hosting such an event in Ireland before, but that the support and goodwill offered by all involved in the bid carried it over the line. ‘‘Ireland beat off the likes of Canada, America and South Africa to host this, and there was an unanimous vote by the IAVE to have it here," said Bradley.
She said that for the pitch, they had letters of support from high-profile individuals such as the Taoiseach, and they settled on a theme of human rights and dignity for the event.
‘‘Ireland has people such as of Bono, Bob Geld of and Mary Robinson working for these causes. [We also] highlighted the beauty, diversity, history and culture that Ireland has to offer as a destination.
We beat the competition hands down with this," said Bradley.
Since the success of the bid, Bradley has formed a hosting committee that includes Fergus Finlay, Colm O’Gorman and Mary Davis - among other leading human rights advocates - and now needs to raise about €750,000 in ‘‘soft funding’’ to host the conference.
‘‘The summit will have 2,500 delegates, showcase Ireland and bring in a spend of €2.5 million," she said.
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