First phase of Irish tourism web initiative launched

The first phase of a €2.6 million global web development project has been launched by Tourism Ireland.

A new bookable consumer website www.discoverireland.com is claimed to be the largest ever indigenous web-project undertaken in Ireland or Northern Ireland. 

Sites will ultimately promote Ireland as a holiday destination in 27 markets worldwide in 14 different languages. 

Discoverireland.com features information from a database of more than 30,000 tourism products including accommodation, festivals, attractions and events.  Information is updated on a daily basis to give a comprehensive all-island tourism database for overseas tourists. 

Websites are being phased in throughout early 2006, starting with Great Britain and North America sites, followed by the remainder of multilingual market sites. Data streaming to the websites is provided by the two tourist boards, Fáilte Ireland and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.

A multi-million euro Tourism Ireland advertising campaign “Discover Your Very Own Ireland” has coincided with the “go live” of the site, designed to increase awareness amongst consumers worldwide.

Tourism Ireland chief executive Paul O’Toole said the internet had become a medium of huge importance in the battle to stay competitive in the international tourism sector.

“For that reason, we saw it as vital for Tourism Ireland to invest just as much in web development as our major competitors and our expenditure is on a par with that of NTOs in Great Britain, France and Canada,” he said.

“In essence, we took the view that when you’re on the internet as a consumer looking for a holiday, you are not going to make allowances for Ireland having a small budget. If you’re going to play with the big boys, you have to do it on the same level and in discoverireland.com we believe we a have a truly world-class offering.”

Irish tourism, arts and sports minister John O’Donoghue said: “The new website provides potential visitors with a wealth of constantly updated information and I commend the agencies and tourism industry partners across the island of Ireland for working so closely together to provide this invaluable data. 

“Discoverireland.com also offers a truly dynamic user experience which will encourage not just looking, but also booking and I have no doubt that it will drive even more business to tourism enterprises, both urban and rural.”

UK enterprise, trade and investment minister Angela Smith said: “The continuing rise in popularity of the internet amongst consumers to source information, compare offers and offerings and ultimately purchase holidays means more than ever, that the customer is king.

“It is vitally important therefore that Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland are open for business on the worldwide web and that holiday information is presented in a fresh and innovative way.”

London-based agency LB Icon has the three year web development contract for Tourism Ireland and will also provide services for website analytics and online campaign tracking. 

Report by Phil Davies