CAPITAL
IDEA: Faced with data showing a
6% drop in visitor bed nights over the past four years, Dublin
Tourism launched a new international marketing initiative with the
debut of a 6-minute DVD promotional tool. Officials said the DVD
will be distributed worldwide to promote Dublin's attractions old
and new to both the leisure and business travel markets. Other
marketing tools will include a new trade Web site, a self-catering
guide, new posters, a Dublin city map and a CD-ROM targeted at
overseas travel agents. Dublin Tourism CEO Frank Magee said the
overseas promotions were important as 1,538 new hotel rooms will be
added in 2005 to the 1,311 new units that opened in the city this
year. New Dublin-area hotels include the Clarion Liffey Valley,
Castleknock Hotel and Country Club, Jurys Doyle Croke Park, New
Hotel Smithfield, Cardiff Lane, Ardmore McEniff, Hilton and
Bewleys-Airport. For more, visit www.visitdublin.com.
CELTIC
TOURS: Celtic Tours, Albany,
N.Y., launched redesigned Ireland, Britain and Europe brochures for
2005. Product refinements include enhancements to the 8-night
Celtic Adventure Tour. Priced from $1,389, land, the tour offers
castle, hotel and farmhouse accommodations, breakfast daily and
seven dinners. Independent travelers can choose from six types of
vacations, such as self-drive, go-as-you-please trips from $57 per
day. Celtic offers rates inclusive of car rental insurance, meaning
less paper work to process on arrival.
Travel agents booking
the inclusive rates earn commission on insurance costs. Call-center
reservations earn agents 10% to 15% pay on land, while those
booking online at www.celtictours.com get 12% to 16% on land.
Celtic pays 5% on air from published gateways. Contact Celtic at
(800) 833-4373, www.celtictours.com or [email protected].
PADDY'S
PARADE: CIE Tours International
will celebrate St. Patrick's Day with one-week escorted Irish
Heritage trips.
For those who want to be in Dublin for the city's famed parade,
the March 11 to 18 departure priced at $1,288 per person from New
York (Kennedy), Boston or Baltimore
takes in capital, Blarney, the Clare coast, the Cliffs of Moher,
Killarney, the Ring of Kerry, Waterford and Kilkenny. Rates include
round-trip airfare, six-nights' hotel, full Irish breakfasts daily,
five dinners, escorted sightseeing program, and more.
Clients can extend the
tour by one extra day and night to visit Galway, Connemara, and
Clonmacnoise for an additional $158 per person. For the city-shy
and crowd-averse, CIE also offers a March 16 to 23 Irish Heritage
departure that spends St. Patrick's Day at Bunratty Castle and Folk
Park, instead of Dublin, as well as other escorted tours that spend
the holiday in the countryside. To contact CIE which pays agents
10% on land and varying commissions on air call (800) CIE-TOUR or
visit www.cietours.com.
GO
NORTH: Addressing delegates at
the World Travel Market show in London Nov. 9, Sue Ward, director
of marketing at the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, said the
British province is the fastest growing destination in the U.K.,
with jumps of 20% and 50% in arrivals and available beds,
respectively, recently. General attractions and products the
tourist board will actively promote in 2005 include the walled city
of Derry/Londonderry; the Giants' Causeway; the Titanic in Belfast;
golfing; the "quirky" side of Northern Ireland; and rural
accommodations.
More specifically, the
board is trumpeting the opening of boutique hotel the Malmaison
Belfast on Nov. 29, and the scheduled debut of a new exhibit on the
Spanish "Armada in Ireland" at the Tower Museum in Derry come
spring. For more, visit www.shamrock.org.