Fáilte Ireland’s 2018 spring advertising campaign for Ireland’s Ancient East kick-started this week, highlighting the region as the perfect place to take a short break, both in the run up to the St Patrick’s and Easter long weekends and beyond.
Aimed at families, the TV ad campaign builds on the ‘Great Stories Stay With You Forever’ creative previously rolled out by Fáilte Ireland, emphasising the holiday experiences and stories to be discovered in Ireland’s Ancient East. The original ad will run for one week from Monday February 19, with a new shorter version of the ad rolling out from February 26 to March 19 on RTE, Virgin media, Sky Ireland, Channel 4 and E4.
The spring campaign will also include advertising across national and local radio from March 19 to April 16, specifically targeting the ‘empty nesters’ market (parents whose children have grown up and left the family home) in the post Easter period, as well as advertising across outdoor and social media channels.
Fáilte Ireland director of marketing Niall Tracey commented, “The domestic market provides a bed-rock for many tourism businesses and sustains activity in the sector throughout the year, providing the sector with more than a billion euros in revenue. Our home holiday marketing activity is especially geared to generate business in the ‘shoulder seasons’ each side of summer to allow tourism operators trade longer which is good for jobs and also important in terms of developing and maintaining a strong product on the ground for all tourists, whether domestic or international.”
The Irish domestic market delivered an estimated 4.8 million holiday trips in Ireland in 2017 with an estimated €1.13 billion being generated by domestic holidays. Total nights spent on domestic leisure trips last year was estimated at 14 million. Irish residents accounted for 52% of all hotel nights in Ireland in 2017.
Jenny De Saulles, Fáilte Ireland’s head of Ireland’s Ancient East, added,“Ireland’s Ancient East has so much to offer domestic tourists. Since its launch, we have been working with tourism businesses in the region to provide enjoyable, engaging and accessible cultural experiences and we are already seeing early signs of success with revenue growth and season extension. This campaign not only raises awareness of the region on the whole, but really highlights the amazing offering for the domestic market.”
