NEW YORK — Tourism Ireland, the Irish tourist board, went straight to the top and secured Ireland Prime Minister Enda Kenny as the keynote speaker at an industry luncheon to mark the unveiling of the country’s new slogan, “Jump into Ireland.”
In an exclusive interview with Travel Weekly, Kenny, who was the country’s tourism and trade minister from 1994-97, said his appreciation for tourism’s importance to the economy has grown even higher since becoming prime minister.
“This is a priority of government,” he said. “And the reason it’s a priority is we recognize we have most of the infrastructure in place for many years now: hotels, roads, golf courses, facilities, spas, all of the things that people look for.”
Kenny said that his administration, which took office last year, quickly reduced the VAT (value-added tax) for hospitality-related businesses from 13.5% to 9%, “principally because of the financial circumstances that the country was in.”
He also successfully pushed an effort to halve the level of employer contribution to Ireland’s equivalent of Social Security for “lower paid workers.”
“That’s had a direct impact of 6,000 people being employed in the last quarter of 2011,” he said.
The Irish people, who figure prominently in a new advertising campaign surrounding the “jump in” theme, are central to seeing tourism increase, he said.
“The Irish are gregarious, they’re inquisitive and they really appreciate what it is to give people a really good quality experience.
“My trick is this,” he continued. “Send them away from Ireland talking about who they met, what they saw and what they did, so when they’re stuck in a traffic jam on the Brooklyn Bridge they’ll say ‘I wish to God I was back in Ireland.’”
It was a theme (and line) he used again to finish his luncheon address to the industry, but then appended a reference to the new slogan: “Don’t jump off the bridge, but jump into Ireland.”
The prime minister touted his country’s golf courses to the audience of travel agents and tour operators, challenging and teasing “American swingers” to see how the game is really played.
“We’re home to the champions,” he said, “and we'll show you how to do it: Simply put the ball in the hole in the least number of shots, and you’ll be famous.”
He added that anyone can play on nice sunny courses, but the games won’t be memorable. “If you want to play real golf, come where the wind blows.”
Kenny recalled the week last year when he had back-to-back visits from Queen Elizabeth and President Barack Obama, and how it put the American-Irish relationship — and the heritage of the president, who has ancestors from both Kenya and Ireland — in perspective.
“The waters that divide us from Africa and America are the same waters that brought Africans to slavery and the Irish to freedom,” he said.
When introducing the prime minister, Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons said he had told Joe Byrne, who heads the organization’s marketing in North America, that he wanted “a Titanic year.” Kenny picked up on that remark and added, “I’d like you to begin like the Titanic, but not end like it.”
The Titanic, which was built in Belfast, Northern Ireland and made its final port of call in the Irish town of Cove, will figure prominently in Ireland’s 2012 promotional efforts, the prime minister said.
Byrne showed new commercials in support of the “jump in” theme, which he said would be shown on television, in movie theaters and during in-flight programming.
“Meet some of the locals,” a voiceover urges as tourists walk toward a fisherman on a rocky shore. “Eat some of the locals if you want,” the script continues as the fisherman holds out a lobster. The next image is of two older men in the corner of a pub. “Maybe not those two,” it adds.
Follow Arnie Weissmann on Twitter @awtravelweekly.