Following last week's news of a €1 million grants scheme for augmenting storytelling and interpretation in Ireland's Ancient East, almost 100 tourism businesses from Ireland’s Ancient East gathered at Fáilte Ireland’s Tourism Interpretation Conference in the Midlands Park Hotel, Portlaoise, today (Tuesday October 18) to hear from international tourism experts on how they can tell their stories to tourists in a way that will provide a more personalised and engaged visitor experience.
Using a mix of domestic and international experts in the areas of cultural tourism and visitor interpretation, the conference aimed to provide those working in and managing visitor attractions with a better understanding of who their visitors are and what they are looking for from attractions. Importantly, the conference also focused on how these insights should influence the way in which they tell the story of their attraction so that they can entice more visitors and create memorable experiences of Ireland when they get here.
Speaking ahead of the conference, Fáilte Ireland’s Head of Ireland’s Ancient East, Jenny De Saulles, explained, “Our vision is to help tourism businesses in Ireland’s Ancient East provide the most enjoyable, engaging and accessible cultural experience in Europe. To do this we have cast our net wide and brought in some of the most experienced experts in the areas of storytelling, interpretation and culture and heritage tourism to share their experience and impart some of their top tips to local tourism businesses. It is our hope that the insights shared at today’s conference will encourage businesses located in Ireland’s Ancient East to bring their attractions to life in new and original ways.”
