Hotel & Restaurant Times 201203 Feb/Mar

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FEBRUARY/MARCH ‘12

THE

BUSINESS

PUBLICATION

FOR

THE

HOTEL

AND

RESTAURANT

GREEN DAY!

€3.65

INDUSTRY

TOURISM IRELAND’S ST. PATRICK’S DAY CELEBRATIONS ABROAD

IN NAMA WE TRUST?

HOPES FOR A MORE BALANCED, COMPETITIVE MARKET

ALL TO PLAY FOR THE UNTAPPED REVENUE OF SPORT TOURISM

VERY PINTERESTING!

THE LATEST SOCIAL MEDIA TOOL

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003 CONTENTS

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CONTENTS

P. 16

P. 44

P. 40

COVER: The Empire State Building in New York lit up green

CONTENTS NEWS APPOINTMENTS TOURISM IRELAND NEWS SPORTS TOURISM INTERNSHIPS BOOKASSIST TRAINEE MANAGER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME RAI NEWS BUSINESS TO INCREASE THIS YEAR BUSINESS TOOLS GREEN DAY IRELAND’S CULINARY OPPORTUNITY FOOD EXCELLENCE MARKETPLACE INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR RECIPES A NEW BRAND IRELAND BIM SEAFOOD CIRCLE AWARDS THE FUTURE OF IRISH HOTELS DOGS IN HOTELS WINE NEW HORIZONS BECKON AGAIN FOOD & BEV LIVE

5 13 14 16 18 20 22 25 29 30 32 34 36 38 39 40 42 44 46 47 48 50

Hotel & Restaurant Times is circulated on subscription to Chief Executives, Directors and Proprietors of Hotels and Restaurants in Ireland along with Architects, Interior Designers and Suppliers to the Hotel and Restaurant Industry.

Managing Editor: Cyril McAree Contributors: Pavel Barter, Erica Svanstrom, Cynthia Bifolchi, Paul Counter, Mark Henry, Conor Power, Frank Corr, Niamh Mc Gregor, Dr. Des O’Mahony, Restaurants Association of Ireland, Tourism Ireland & Fáilte Ireland Design, Layout & Production: Andy Ryan @ DIA - 086 8050464 Printing: GPS All paper used in the production of this magazine comes from certifiably sustainable forestry.

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ALL CONTENTS OF THE MAGAZINE ARE COPYRIGHT OF HOTEL & RESTAURANT TIMES: H&R HOUSE, CARTON COURT, MAYNOOTH, CO. KILDARE. TEL/FAX: 01 628 5447.

E-MAIL: editorial@hotelandrestauranttimes.ie WEB: www.hotelandrestauranttimes.ie H&RT FEBRUARY/MARCH ‘12

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004 EDITORIAL

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The good, the bad, and the ugly A recent Irish Times report, citing one of the larger hotels groups partaking in supposed fake review posting, brings a real challenge to the websites that offer customers the opportunity to give an honest and accurate review of their experience at a particular venue. Some people I have spoken to within the industry believe this is not an isolated case and the group concerned were unfortunate to be exposed. That in itself is a worry.

As more people use the internet as a major source of information, it merits the question as to what can be done to ensure this type of situation is discouraged and policed more effectively. Maybe some of these questions will be challenged and answered at the forthcoming IHF conference. We will wait and see.

editorial editorial editorial

editorial

EDITORIAL

editorial

The continuing pressure from the banking sector to the industry unfortunately shows no sign relaxing. A lot of businesses are still concerned at the lack of funding available to assist with the day to day running of their business. Tourism is a real source of inward investment and must be supported, just like the food sector and agriculture.

As we approach one of our largest festivals, St Patricks Day, Tourism Ireland have once again pulled off a few major marketing strokes - none more impressive than having some of the world's the iconic sites, including the renowned Niagara Falls and the TV tower in Berlin’s Alexanderplatz, bathed in green for the day. The London Eye, Burj Al Arab in Dubai, Table Mountain in South Africa, the Empire State Building in New York, and the Sky Tower in Auckland, some of the other buildings and attractions around the world which will "go green" this year to mark St Patrick’s Day, kicking off Tourism Ireland’s major first half promotional drive to grow overseas tourism.

Failte Ireland's year review brought more positive news and is a welcomed signal that we are getting our act together. The one message that seems to be getting out to the market is that we are again a value for money destination. Speaking recently Shaun Quinn outlined some findings of research undertaken by Failte Ireland: "Overseas visitors perception of the value for money that is available in Ireland continued to improve throughout 2011 and, while the perception of value has been an issue for British visitors in recent years, better offers from the trade and a weakening of the Euro have helped. The perceived value of eating out, drink and the cost of living also improved significantly in 2011.

"For example, in research conducted among overseas holidaymakers during the summer months of 2011, one in four stated that the overall value that they experienced in the area in which they were staying was very good, while a further two thirds said that it was good. Only a small minority of holiday visitors felt that the overall value in the area where they stayed was poor. Furthermore, preliminary indications from Fáilte Ireland’s Survey of Overseas Travellers are that satisfaction with value for money is at its best among French and German visitors since the introduction of the Euro ten years ago. Research also indicates that satisfaction with the cost of eating out, drink and the cost of living in Ireland in general has risen considerably compared to 2010."

This seems to reinforce what Tourism Ireland has embarked on with their "Jump into Ireland Campaign" - so far market indicators are upbeat about the year ahead. Recent CSO figures show an increase in the region of 8% from 2010 to the latter end of 2011 and certainly points to a quantifiable upturn in the market.

Another bright light on the horizon is sports tourism. A recent report undertaken by Focus Consulting highlighted the true potential of this market segment. See report on pages 16-17.

The hope now is that growth and recovery of the industry can be maintained and supported by all concerned.

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Cyril McAree Editor

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NEWS Hole in One for Hennigan

2012 is shaping up to be another memorable year on the awards front for The Malton Hotel, Killarney, as General Manager Conor Hennigan walked away with the accolade of Best Hotel Manager at the Golfers recent Guide to Ireland inaugural awards ceremony.

The Golfers Guide to Ireland is Ireland’s longest established golf guide with a distribution of over 50,000 copies. To mark the 21st year of the guide, publishers Portside Publications inaugurated an awards programme to recognise leadership roles played by Irish Golf Clubs and associated golf interests on the whole island of Ireland.

Conor was not the only Kerry and Killarney winner at the awards ceremony.

Killarney Golf & Fishing Club walking away with the accolade of “Best Parkland Course” & Maurice O’Meara winning the “Best Secretary Manager” - a trio of awards for Killarney.

Grand designs A group of top international journalists from German, France, Belgium and Britain, together with Dutch fashion blogger Michelle Helmigh, recently visited Dublin on a specially tailored familiarisation trip entitled Meet the Designers. With Dublin shortlisted as one of just three cities worldwide for the title of World Design Capital in 2014, it was an ideal opportunity for the journalists to meet with top Irish fashion designers and craftspeople.

NEWS

Tourism Ireland takes a stand in Spain

On the Tourism Ireland stand at FITUR in Spain were (l-r): Jason Clifford, Dunloe Castle Hotel, Killarney; Barbara Wood, Tourism Ireland; Paloma Cortajarena, Aer Lingus; Billy Condon, Tourism Ireland; Titanic character; Margarita Gruber, Irlanda en Español (tour operator); Tatiana de los Reyes, CIE Tours International; and H.E. Justin Harman, Irish Ambassador to Spain.

Cool runnings The Ice House, Co Mayo, are celebrating Trip Advisor’s accolade of coming 1st in a list of 25 prestigious hotels in Ireland under the category ‘Relaxation and Spa’, in the Travellers Choice Awards 2012 Best 25 Hotels.

Doyle Collection appoints new CEO

Pictured at Dublin’s Design Tower were (l-r): Lee Harding, Irish Jeweller (DaCapo); Antoinette Reilly, Fáilte Ireland; Susannah Wright (Manchester Evening News); Michelle Helmigh, Blogger - I Love Fashion, Amsterdam; Griet By (Genieten, Belgium); Louise Allen, Crafts Council of Ireland; Annie Crouzet (Voyages de Luxe, France) and designer Róisín Gartland.

The Board of The Doyle Collection has announced the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer. Pat King takes up the position of CEO, having held the position of Chief Financial Officer. Pat King has over twenty years experience in the hotel industry, having joined Jurys Doyle Hotel Group plc in 1990. Pat was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Jurys Doyle Hotel Group in 2006, where he played a key role in both the Company’s reorganisation during 2007 and the €200m refurbishment of its hotels, culminating in the rebrand and launch of the international luxury brand, The Doyle Collection.

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NEWS

The Great Escape

Knorr on Corrie

The Irish-owned group, Great National Hotels and Resorts have announced the addition of a further two hotels to its growing number of properties throughout Ireland and the UK in the wake of a 14% occupancy increase in 2011.Commenting at the launch of Great National’s 2012 ‘Escape’ brand strategy, David Byrne, CEO, said: “We are delighted to announce the addition of the South Court Hotel in Limerick and the Parkview Hotel in Wicklow to our growing network of hotels and resorts.

Both are excellent properties and compliment Great National’s already impressive collection of 3-, 4- and 5-star hotels and resorts.”

A serious contender to Betty’s Hotpot is about to hit The Rover’s Return Pub, as Knorr Season + Shake sponsors Coronation Street on TV3. With almost 3.6 million Irish viewers tuning in over the last year, it is easy to see why it is consistently in TV3’s top three performing programmes.

Passage from India David Byrne, CEO and David Collins, Marketing Director, Great National Hotels and Resorts.

Positive thinking Bill Kelly, Managing Director of Kelly’s Resort Hotel, Rosslare, Co.Wexford has called for an immediate end to the general negativity that is stalling our emergence from the current economic crisis. A key challenge for industry managers in the current environment is how to keep staff motivated and engaged in an environment where cutbacks, cost reductions and dealing with banks are the order of the day.

Not an easy task!

Kelly’s Resort Hotel had a very successful 2011 season and Bill Kelly credits their success, despite the tough trading environment, to the uplifting impact of Marcus Child from a previous visit to “Kelly’s” in 2009.

“Marcus is a fascinating speaker whose comments and passion transcend both business and personal life. He enables us to realise our own potential and believe ‘we can do it’ even in these challenging times” said Bill Kelly.

Marcus Child has over 15 years of experience in working with a wide variety of organisations that have faced uncompromising situations and big questions. Examples of companies that Marcus has worked with include Marriott Hotels, P&O, ITV and AOL amongst others. Marcus is highly regarded and sought after as a speaker and travels the world sharing his ideas with people who want to achieve growth, success and happiness at work and beyond.

To prompt some ideas and positive thinking around this issue Kelly’s have invited Marcus Child, to do a three-day workshop at Kelly’s Resort Hotel from 25th - 28th March 2012, a world renowned motivational speaker to share his thoughts and insights with you.

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Emirates inaugural flight from Dubai to Dublin recently brought a group of 14 Indian business and travel journalists to Ireland, as guests of Tourism Ireland and the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA). The aim of the visit was to highlight the new route and the excellent connectivity with Dublin from India and to showcase Ireland as an ideal location for shooting Bollywood films; it also allowed the journalists to experience at first-hand what Ireland has to offer Indian holidaymakers. During their time here, the group spent time in Co Wicklow, enjoying visits to Glendalough and Powerscourt.

Connemara coasts into Bridgestone guide The Connemara Coast Hotel is celebrating its inclusion in The Bridgestone 100 Best Places to Stay 2012 for the fourth consecutive year.

Pictured (l-r): Tracy Hadnett, Sales and Marketing Manager, Kevin Cleary, Head Chef, Cara Morrisson, Wedding and Events Co-ordinator, Leanne Keating, Service Attendant.

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NEWS

Golden handshake

At the recent Irish Accommodation Services Institute Awards (I.A.S.I.), the Connemara Coast Hotel was the only 4 star hotel in Galway to be presented with a Gold Star Award for achieving excellence in accommodation services standards for the quality, hygiene and cleanliness of its bedrooms and public areas. I.A.S.I. are the national body representing the accommodation industry and are very active in promoting best practice standards across the accommodation field.

Hotel Westport scoops dinner award

Philadelphia spreads the love of Cadbury

Philadelphia has announced the launch of a brand new product in its range - an exciting Philadelphia with Cadbury combination, a fresh tasting, light textured chocolate spread which has half the fat and less sugar than other chocolate spreads. While the concept of mixing cheese with chocolate may initially surprise consumers, Philadelphia’s ambition to spread its reach into creating a sweet cream cheese category is just the latest twist in the brand’s evolution as the most versatile spread on the market.

Philadelphia with Cadbury brings together two of Kraft Foods’ biggest brands to create a completely new product that will offer Philadelphia new growth opportunities outside its traditional cheese spread category. The move builds on Philadelphia successfully expanding its use from a simple cheese spread to a cooking ingredient - making it the No.1 Soft White Cheese in Ireland.

LEC Commercial Catering Refrigeration goes platinum Ms. Vivienne Jupp, Chairperson, CIE; Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar with Declan Heneghan, General Manager, and Fergal Colleran from Hotel Westport, accepting their Gold Award for CIE Tours International Best Hotel Dinner in Ireland.

Golf to the Fore in Florida Golf and tourism operators from around the island of Ireland on the Tourism Ireland stand at the PGA show in Orlando, with Joe Byrne, Tourism Ireland’s Executive Vice-President US and Canada (fourth from left).

Leading UK commercial refrigeration specialist LEC has re-launched its specialist catering refrigeration range with an 18-model line-up of under counter and freestanding refrigerators and freezers for use in commercial premises.

Designed to commemorate 70 years of LEC refrigeration, the new Platinum range offers a wider choice of energy efficient, environmentally friendly models that offer low running costs at an affordable price.

Designed to meet the needs of a variety of catering establishments, the new Platinum range works in the warmest of commercial kitchens - up to 38˚C ambient temperature and features stylish co-ordinating refrigerators and freezers in three new sizes - 200L, 400L and 600L. The range also offers a choice of solid door models in a white or stainless steel finish, together with new glass door options for fridges that are ideal for front of house use.

Whilst a superior finish and improved shelving features throughout the range, the 600L models are ‘gastronorm’ compatible. For further information on the Lec range of refrigeration equipment visit www.leccommercial.co.uk H&RT FEBRUARY/MARCH ‘12

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NEWS

Germans enjoy TradFest in Dublin A group of top German journalists, who write for leading newspapers and magazines, recently visited Dublin to enjoy Temple Bar’s TradFest. Now in its seventh year, Temple Bar TradFest is a firm favourite on the festival calendar and brings to Dublin City Centre a celebration of Irish music and culture each January. A jam packed programme has been put together by Fáilte Ireland, in conjunction with Tourism Ireland, to showcase both new and old musicians with the Dubliners 50th anniversary concert at the weekend being the highlight.

Getting Ireland out of the rough Fáilte Ireland has emphasised the potential of golf for tourism, after the Golf Forum released new research about overseas golf visitors to Ireland. This research estimates that the typical overseas golf tourist is worth almost three times the value of the average tourist to Ireland. With approximately 155,000 overseas visitors playing golf while in Ireland, this amounts to a total estimated spend of €204 million per annum. It is estimated that expenditure of this size supports approximately 7,300 jobs in Ireland.

National soup week stirs up pride for Irish cuisine Celebrity chef, Derry Clarke of L’Ecrivain restaurant, today recently Gorta - the Freedom from Hunger Council of Ireland to announce National Soup Week, running from March 5 -11 next. The Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) is encouraging people to support the campaign at participating restaurants nationwide. During the week, people can run ‘Soup for Life’ events at home; in the workplace or in clubs, schools and colleges.

The fundraising campaign encourages people to get out and sip some soup to help make hunger history.

A Titanic move for tourism

Titanic Experience Cobh, a permanent visitor attraction in the heart of Cobh town, has recently opened its doors to the public. The Titanic Experience tells the story of the White Star Line’s largest passenger steamliner, Titanic, through the eyes of the Irish passengers, mostly 3rd class, who travelled on the most famous maiden voyage in all history.

Situated in the original White Star Line ticket office in Cobh, the location marks the departure point for the last 123 passengers that boarded the ill-fated Titanic on the 11th of April 1912. Just three days later, the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank, with a death toll of 1523 people. Just 44 passengers that boarded in Cobh survived their journey on Titanic.

High standards Irish-owned Great National Hotels and Resorts Group announced the addition of the Wicklowbased Parkview Hotel in Newtownmountkennedy, to Great National’s portfolio of hotels throughout Ireland and the UK. Widely regarded as Ireland’s fastest growing hotel group, Great National now comprises over 20 hotels throughout the UK and Ireland with over 1,200 bedrooms making it one of Ireland’s largest top hotel groups.

Commenting, John Gallagher, General Manager, Parkview Hotel said: “We’re delighted to align ourselves to Great National Hotels and Resorts; it underlines all our hard work in striving for the highest possible standards of service for our guests. We look forward to our hotel growing in reputation and stature through additional sales, revenue and marketing support from the Great National team.”

Knorr is more

Life is for Livingstone Shay Livingstone has been appointed General Manager of the Carlton Hotel Galway City. Mr Livingstone has worked in management roles within a range of four and five star luxury hotels on the continent and was involved in the launch of a chain of luxury properties around the Mediterranean. He moved from the Rochestown Park Hotel and previously held a series of roles within the Ryan group, Royal Marine Hotel, Killarney Ryan and the Dublin City Centre flagship hotel, The Gresham.

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Knorr have recently launched a new range of Indian and Oriental sauces designed to enable Irish chefs to add their own signature to popular ethnic dishes. Knorr Blue Dragon (Oriental) and Knorr Patak’s (Indian) Create More Concentrated Sauces are simple to use; just add water, fresh ingredients, and your own inspiration. They can be used hot or cold straight from the jar, in a sauce or in salads, sandwiches, marinades.

Knorr Create More Concentrated Sauces are also good for the environment: they have 37% less packaging than ready-to-use sauces resulting in almost half as many trucks on the road.

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NEWS

The gift of giving

ARAMARK Ireland, Ireland’s food services, environmental, facilities and property management company, has selected its nominated charities for 2012. Pictured at the announcement are (l-r): Katie Browne, Corporate Fundraiser, Cork Simon Community; Barry McCann, Fundraising & Development Manager, Croí; Donal O’Brien, Chief Executive, ARAMARK Ireland; Neil Johnson, CEO, Croi; Anne Hannan, Corporate Development Manager, Marie Curie Cancer Care; Linda Keating, Director of Fundraising, Marie Keating Foundation; and Lillian McGovern, CEO, Marie Keating Foundation.

Kings of the Castle

The 4 star Castle Hotel in Macroom, Co. Cork, has been voted best bargain hotel

by Trip Advisor in its annual Trip Advisor Travellers’ Choice Awards. The Castle Hotel was ranked within the top twenty five hotels in Ireland in the “bargain” hotel award category by Trip Advisor. The Castle Hotel is no stranger to Trip Advisor - last year it was awarded a Certificate of Excellence for 2011.

Team effort for London GAA

Moran & Bewley’s Hotel Group have renewed their sponsorship of both the London GAA Senior Football team and the London GAA Senior Hurling team. Donal Corbett of London GAA, are thrilled to once again have the sponsorship and support from the Moran & Bewley’s Hotel Group: “The Moran & Bewleys Hotel Group is a natural fit for London GAA - they have been great supporters of GAA over the years, providing accommodation for so many visiting teams and looking after us when we travel to Ireland also. The Crown Moran Hotel has been central to the GAA community in London and this is a great way of strengthening these links.”

Training for all occasions

At the launch of a new training company providing consultancy and training in upselling for the Irish restaurant and hospitality sector are, from left, Emma Power, and far right, Sara Walshe, directors, Complete Training Solutions, with staff from Waterford Castle Hotel & Golf Resort.

Gold Bouillon The Hospitality Trust, the benevolent association for the hospitality industry in Ireland, recently received industry support in the form of a donation from a group led by Unilever Food Solutions and also comprising Pallas Foods and Stonehouse.

The cheque was presented to the Hospitality Trust by Jim Reeves, Customer Director, Unilever Food Solutions Ireland, who said: “Unilever Food Solutions, in association with our trade partners Pallas Foods and Stonehouse, are very proud of our longstanding association with the Hospitality Trust.

The Trust has benefited many individuals and families throughout Ireland and we in the foodservice industry recognise the valuable and meaningful work they undertake on a daily basis. It is important, and even more so in light of the current challenging trading environment, that industry supports those in difficulty and we are pleased to do so.” Unilever Food Solutions, together with their industry partners Pallas Foods and Stonehouse, made the donation to Hospitality Trust from the sales of Knorr Bouillon.

The Hospitality Trust supports people in need of help that are or have been engaged directly or indirectly in the hotel and catering industry. For more information on Hospitality Trust or to make a donation to the Trust, please call (01) 662 4790 or log on to: www.hospitalitytrust.ie.

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NEWS

Sinéad Cassidy appointed Sales and PR Manager to the g Hotel

The five star g Hotel, Galways, has recently appointed Sinéad Cassidy as Sales and PR Manager. Sinéad joins the g Hotel having worked as Sales & Marketing Manager at the Salthill Hotel, Galway. Prior to this, she held a number of high profile positions including; Press Officer for the 2010 & 2011 National Ploughing Championships, Marketing Manager of Supermacs Nationwide, Account Director with Spirit Retail Marketing Group Dublin, and Marketing & PR Manager with both Punchestown and Naas Racecourse.

Tourism Ireland comments on tourism figures Commenting on the CSO figures issued for overseas visitor numbers to Ireland for 2011, Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “Despite the challenges and uncertainty which faced the global economy last year, visitor numbers from overseas for 2011 are almost 8% ahead of 2010. While the final quarter showed a decrease of -3%, the overall growth in 2011 is an encouraging basis on which Tourism Ireland will build this year.”

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Gastronomic greatness Shane Deane from Cork Institute of Technology has been crowned 2012 Knorr Student Chef of the Year after a thrilling final cook off at CIT. The cook off saw ten of Ireland’s most talented student chefs from catering colleges across the country go head-to-head in a tightly fought contest, before Shane, hailing from Kilbrittain in Co. Cork, was eventually crowned winner.

As well as the title of Best Student Chef, Shane was awarded a bespoke perpetual trophy, specially commissioned to commemorate the 15th year of the competition. Shane also won a fantastic trip to London where he will enjoy a food photography experience with acclaimed food photographer, Gareth Morgans, and an evening of gastronomic greatness in Heston Blumenthal’s multi-award winning The Fat Duck Restaurant.

Announcing the winner of the 2012 competition, Mark McCarthy, Business Development Chef, Unilever Food Solutions said: “Once again, Knorr Student Chef of the Year has showcased the incredible talent coming through the ranks of Ireland’s catering colleges. The standard of food in Ireland has been improving yearon-year and, judging by the calibre of chefs here today, the future remains bright.

The theme of the 2012 competition was Irish Fusion and students had just two hours to create a starter and main course, taking inspiration from different regional cuisines around Ireland and using at least two Knorr products.

Making up the judging panel was Unilever Food Solutions’ Business Development Chef, Mark McCarthy; Chef Lecturer, Cork Institute of Technology, Ciarán Scully, and guest judge Martin Shanahan, Chef Proprietor of the awardwinning fish restaurant, Fishy Fishy, in Kinsale, Co Cork, and presenter of the television series, Martin’s Mad About Fish and Martin’s Still Mad About Fish.

Moran cleans up

Ines Guera, IASI, and Eamon Doherty, from award sponsors Ecolab, present Josephine Ryan (centre) from the Red Cow Moran Hotel with their award for ‘Best 4 star hotel for Cleanliness’.

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NEWS EXTRA

Cautiously optimistic

A recent survery by Hotel & Restaurant Times and Sásta Surverys Ltd. shows signs of an increase in business in our industry – but there are still significant challenges to be dealt with. Erica Svanstrom reports.

“

Having ended 2011 on a positive note, the outlook from the hospitality industry is optimistic and confident as the sector continues to regain its competitiveness.

Yet, despite encouraging signs such as increased overseas visitor numbers and hotel occupancy rates, which suggest that tourism may finally have turned a corner on the road to recovery, the challenges facing many hospitality businesses in their day to day operations are still very real.

In order to gauge the level of Echoing the increased confidence among these businesses and confidence in the market provide insight into their direct expressed by the experience of the current state of the industry at the start of the industry, Hotel & Restaurant Times year, seven in ten commissioned the Hospitality Industry Survey in January 2012. businesses noted steady The online survey, carried out by Sásta or increased demand for Surveys Ltd between the 25th of January their products and and the 3rd of February 2012, was services in the last completed by 107 respondents. twelve months.

The main types of participating businesses were restaurant and bar owners (51%), hotel and guesthouse operators (21%) and hospitality industry suppliers (12%). 37% of the businesses are located in the Dublin area, 15% in the South West and the rest are spread across the country.

Echoing the increased confidence in the market expressed by the industry at the

start of the year, seven in ten businesses noted steady or increased demand for their products and services in the last twelve months.

However, this optimism was offset by the fact that two in ten respondents had seen the demand decrease below expected levels in the last year and three in ten believed it would take one totwo, or more, years for demand to start increasing.

With the current economic climate and the state of the bank system, it does not come as a surprise that 36% of respondents were not confident that they would secure capital from banks to fund development projects. Only 16% stated that they were confident they would secure such funds.

The domestic market was indicated as the only target for nearly half of the businesses whereas 29% of the respondents also target international markets and 7% focus on both Ireland and the United Kingdom.

North America, the United Kingdom, Asia, Ireland, Western Europe and Northern Europe were target markets which many businesses expected to increase over the next twelve months although some respondents expected Ireland and the United Kingdom to decrease. Southern Europe wasexpected to increase the least or decrease, possibly due to the Eurozone debt crisis.

Most of the respondents stated that they believed the Irish marketing budget should be invested in promoting the domestic market through “stay at home holidays” or “staycation” as some put it. However, the need to promote Ireland abroad, particularly in the United Kingdom, North America, Asia and Northern Europe,was also mentioned by several respondents.

In order to differentiate themselves in their core markets, many businesses stated that they would focus on new marketing strategies and channels and continued support from Fáilte Ireland was considered a crucial factor.

Increasing the quality of the food and the H&RT FEBRUARY/MARCH ‘12

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NEWS EXTRA service while also offering better value for money was a key priority mentioned by many bar and restaurant establishments while hotel operators stated that they would focus more on package deals, group bookings and special offers.

In addition to the more traditional ecommerce tools such as websites and emails, a large number of businesses now use social media to promote their business.

A third of respondents stated that the lead time from booking to stay or visit had decreased in the last year, suggesting a possible increase in last minute travel and tourism.

The majority of the respondents were small to medium size businesses employing up to 25 people, followed by a group of larger businesses with 26 to 100 employees.

“ In addition to the more traditional ecommerce tools such as websites and emails, a large number of businesses now use social media to promote their business.

The average current employee turnover for all respondents combined was 10.78% and while 47% of businesses were not planning on hiring more staff over the next six months, 16% said they would be hiring more staff and 11% said they would reduce the number of employees.

On average, 3.41% of annual turnover was invested in employee training and development and industry conferences hosted by the IHF, RAI and Fáilte Ireland were the most frequently visited events where relevance, quality of speakers and networking opportunities were considered key factors in making such conferences interesting.

Industry awards were considered the most relevant awards for the respondents’ businesses followed by consumer choice awards. Trade magazine awards on the other hand were considered of limited value in terms of sponsorship and relevance to the business.

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What type of business do you operate?

Restaurant only

35%

Hotel

20%

Restaurant & Bar combined

17%

Hospitality Industry Supplier

12%

Other

6%

Coffee shop

2%

Guesthouse

1%

Not answered

8%

How many people do you employ?

Up to 5 employees

11%

6-12

19%

13-25

19%

26-50

16%

51-100

14%

101-200

6%

201-400

2%

401+

4%

Not answered

10%

Where is your business located?

Dublin area

37%

South West

15%

South East

8%

North West

8%

Mid West

7%

Midlands

7%

North East

6%

Northern Ireland

1%

Not answered

10%

How would you describe the current demand for products and services in your business?

Increasing significantly

4%

Increasing

35%

Staying the same

27%

Decreasing

19%

Decreasing significantly

0%

Not answered

16%

What markets do you expect to increase over the next 12 months?

North America

22%

Britain

17%

Ireland

16%

Asia

9%

Western Europe

9%

Nothern Europe

8%

Central Europe

6%

Australia

6%

Rest of the world

4%

Southern Europe

3%

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APPOINTMENTS

Gleneagle’s new star

The Gleneagle Group, based in Killarney, has announced the appointment of Donagh Davern to the role of Regional General Manager. Donagh will be responsible for a number of properties within the group, including The Brehon, and will join the group’s Senior Management Team. Donagh has over 20 years of extensive experience in the hospitality industry, most recently in Cork, where he was Chairman of the Cork branch of the Irish Hotels Federation. He has been responsible for a number of prestige properties including The Kingsley Hotel Group, The Heritage Golf and Spa Resort and The Killarney Park Hotel.

New appointments at Croke Park Conference Centre The Croke Park Conference Centre has appointed two new key positions on the Conference Centre sales team.

Sinead Heneghan has been appointed Conference Sales Account Manager for the conference and event sales team.

Sinead joins the Croke Park team after gaining experience as Corporate Sales Executive at the Shelbourne Hotel.

Leah Kearns has been appointed Sales Co-Ordinator for the conference and event sales team in Croke Park.

She will manage bookings for the 87 meeting rooms at the Stadium campus and act as event sales coordinator for the centre.

Leah’s previous role was as Service Desk Manager in the Convention Centre Dublin. Leah holds a Bachelor of Business Studies in Event Management from the Dundalk Institute of Technology

NEWS

Serving up a treat at Seapoint

Shane Kenny, owner of Seapoint Restaurant in Monkstown, has announced the appointment of Chad Gugliotta to the post of Restaurant Manager. Originally from Baltimore, Chad studied Sports and Exercise Science at the University of Tampa, in Florida graduating with a degree in Exercise Science and Sports Studies with a major in Sports Management.

His sports and catering career began with several Tampa Bay sports teams including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tampa Bay Devil Rays in many different roles including Sales Associate and Premium Seating Food and Beverage Manager.

Leisurely pursuits at Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel

Cormac O’Sullivan has joined the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel team as Manager of the hotel’s Fitness & Leisure Centre, The Club. Cormac has over 15 years experience in General Management, Sales, Marketing and Administration in the highly competition sector of the health and leisure industry in Ireland. He has previously worked in the Arklow Bay Hotel, LA Fitness, Jackie Skelly Fitness and Énergie Fitness.

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TOURISM

Irish tourism to target Brazil and Russia Tourism Ireland has announced a new strategy to attract more high-spending visitors from the emerging tourism markets of Brazil and Russia. The organisation will target potential holidaymakers in these markets by working closely with airlines and tour operators to increase exposure and demand for holidays to the island of Ireland.

The decision follows Tourism Ireland’s review of potential new markets and has also been influenced by the Government’s introduction last year of the visa waiver scheme, which makes it easier for visitors from these countries to come to Ireland on holidays. Tourism Ireland already markets Ireland actively in both India and China.

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar welcomed the new strategy: “This new focus on Brazil and Russia reflects the Government’s commitment to develop these rapidly-growing, emerging markets. India, China and Russia all benefit from the Government’s visa waiver scheme, while Brazilian tourists don’t need visas to visit Ireland at all.

500,000+ Germans to see Sligo Surf Online!

Germany’s top surfer Sebastian Steudtner tests Sligo’s waves.

Germany’s most famous “big wave surfer” Sebastian Steudtner was in Sligo recently to check out and film the fantastic surfing on offer in this part of Ireland for a new series of online videos. The videos, which are part of a ‘teaser’ trailer for a bigger TV and online project which will show Sebastian seeking out the biggest and best surfing waves in Europe, will be seen by over 500,000 surf enthusiasts and potential holidaymakers all over Germany this year. The footage captured by Sebastian was presented at the Berlin International Film Festival and will be distributed across a variety of online and social media platforms in Germany this spring, including Tourism Ireland’s website in Germany and the organisation’s German Facebook page, which has over 56,000 fans.

Kristina Gauges, Tourism Ireland’s manager for Central Europe, said: “Given that tourists are increasingly reliant on social media, blogs and film content to inspire and inform them about their holiday choices, this is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the world-class surfing and adventure product available in this part of Ireland to a niche audience in Germany. Sebastian Steudtner is incredibly popular among surfing and adventure enthusiasts around Germany and the films he has shot in Sligo will be seen by over 500,000 people.”

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I would encourage the tourism industry to respond to this strategy, by finding new ways to engage visitors from these countries with attractive and good value tourism products.”

Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “The majority of our overseas visitors come from the core markets of Great Britain, North America and Mainland Europe, and while this will continue, it is important that we expand our focus beyond these markets and look to the long-term opportunities presented by the BRIC countries. Since the visa waiver scheme was introduced here by the Government last year, there has been a noted increase in demand from tour operators for visas for Ireland and a number of tour operators in China, India and the GCC are programming Ireland for the first time in 2012, on the back of the new arrangements. We believe the BRIC economies will play an increasing role in the future of the travel and tourism industry generally and will play a greater part in helping us to grow tourism from overseas in 2012 and beyond.”

Head of Beijing Tourism pays a visit A delegation from Beijing Tourism met with Tourism Ireland, as well as a number of Irish tourism representatives who are active in the Chinese market, during a recent visit to Dublin. It is estimated that approximately 10,000 Chinese visitors come to Ireland each year. However, Tourism Ireland believes that this market has the potential to grow considerably, especially given China’s strong economy and growing population, which includes an estimated 535,000 ‘high net worth’ individuals.

Yong LU, head of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development, and Mark Henry, Tourism Ireland (centre), with members of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development and Irish tourism representatives active in the Chinese market.

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Chinese tourists ring in Ireland is The the year of the Business in France Dragon Irish-style 150 Chinese tourists - from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen - rang in the ‘Year of the Dragon’ Irish-style, during a recent visit. They travelled to the Cliffs of Moher, Dublin, Belfast and the Giant’s Causeway to celebrate the Chinese New Year here. They spent a few days in Britain and were able to include Ireland in their itinerary by taking advantage of the visa waiver scheme introduced by the Government last year. The scheme encourages visitors from emerging markets, like China, to visit Ireland when they are visiting the UK, without the hassle or cost of applying for a separate visa. Nine leading Chinese tour operators recently announced they will include Ireland in their 2012 programmes for the first time ever - thanks to the visa waiver scheme, as well as improved access from China including the recently launched Emirates service via Dubai.

At a special Chinese New Year dinner, organised by Tourism Ireland at the Merry Ploughboy pub in Dublin, were Chinese visitors with Shane Clarke, Tourism Ireland (fourth from left); Sinéad Ahern, Lady Mayoress of Dublin; Cllr Andrew Montague, Lord Mayor of Dublin; and Cllr Pamela Kearne, Mayor of South Dublin County.

Over 100 French conference and meeting planners attended a networking ‘Meet in Ireland’ event in the prestigious Irish Embassy in Paris recently. The event provided a valuable opportunity for Tourism Ireland and 19 Irish partners - including hotels, conference venues, PCOs (professional conference organisers), convention bureaux and Aer Lingus - to showcase their product and to communicate what is unique about the island of Ireland as a conference and business tourism destination. Billy Condon, Tourism Ireland’s Manager for Southern Europe, said: “We were delighted that so many of the key decision-makers from this sector took the time to come and meet our partners, demonstrating their keen interest in Ireland as a business tourism destination for 2012 and beyond. Ireland has always been a strong player in the French marketplace for incentive business and we were very pleased with the strong turnout from the association conference sector, which, together with our industry partners, we are proactively targeting in 2012. “

Industry partners at the Irish Embassy in Paris, for the networking ‘Meet in Ireland’ event, with Billy Condon, Tourism Ireland (right) and Alison Johnston, Fáilte Ireland (fifth from right).

Minister Varadkar meets new Tourism Ireland Board Tourism

Minister

Leo

Varadkar T.D. met with the newly

appointed

board

members of Tourism Ireland at their first board meeting in Dublin

recently.

They

discussed the forthcoming tourism extensive

season

and

the

promotional

programme which Tourism Ireland is rolling out across the globe for 2012.

Newly appointed board members of Tourism Ireland at their first board meeting, with (front) Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland; Tourism Minister Leo Varadkar T.D.; Brian Ambrose, chairman of Tourism Ireland; and Jim Flannery, vice chairman of Tourism Ireland.

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SPORTS TOURISM

All to play for Sport tourism is now huge business, something that was brought to national attention back in February as thousands of dejected Irish fans were shown returning from Paris for a rugby match that never was. One organisation who unsurprisingly have had an eye on the quality of the sports tourist experience long before that is Munster Rugby. They hired Mark O’Connell of Focus Consulting to produce a number of studies for them, and that work has now led on to further projects for clubs and government in Scotland and Wales. Back in November Mark presented some of his findings to the Positive Changes Through Sport: All To Play For conference, attended by a mix of tourist boards, sporting associations and tourism industry leaders.

When he explains the economic value of a Munster home quarter final in the Heineken Cup is around €10.5m for the region it’s easy to see why people want to listen.

“We’ve undertaken quite a few different economic impact assessments on sports events,” explains O’Connell. “For example the Special Olympics National Games were held in Limerick in 2010 and that had a phenomenal impact on the city from an economic and social point of view. It has benefits for everyone - not just Thomond Park, it’s the hotels, restaurants, cinemas, petrol pumps.”

O’Connellestimates that for every hundred euros of tourist spend worldwide, ten euros will be sport tourism - and this is a figure that will only increase. Just as well then that Limerick was awarded the title of European City of Sport 2010. “The legacy

Mark O’Connell

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from the city of sport, ” he adds, “is all of a sudden people realise there is a structure and there is a platform to develop more activities.”

Knowing that sport brings money to the local economy is one thing: how do you encourage it? There are three main areas to consider: maximising revenue from existing professional sports events, encouraging more amateur sports events, and the holy grail of sports tourism, the “floating” international event. What is clear from the Limerick model is sitting on the sidelines waiting for your local stadium to lay the golden egg is no longer good enough.

John Cantwell of Thomond Park already has an enviable track record of success bringing “floating” events to Limerick. Australia Rugby have played there, so have the All Blacks, the Barbarians as well as rugby league and international soccer matches. The Australia game, a wet Tuesday in November, saw almost every hotel in the region booked out at a time when they’d normally be empty. For Cantwell it’s very much about the region working as one unit. “At Thomond Park we’d be a pioneer in terms of getting the local bodies to play an active role.” he explains. “We told them if we all work together we could come up with a mechanism that would allow us to go out and secure some of these international events.”

That means stakeholders like Shannon Development, local hotels and the Chamber of Commerce all working alongside Thomond Park in a taskforce that meet to outline joint objectives and set goals for bringing new events to the city.

It also meant levelling out an anomaly of sport tourism. In the past when the

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stadium secured a major event they took all the financial risk, but when things went well everyone shared in the reward. “Everybody benefits so everybody should contribute,” says Cantwell. Now the taskforce all contribute to a joint marketing fund. This approach is already used in London which has resulted inone regular season NFL game being played at Wembley each year and gives Cantwell a bigger pot of money to play with when he talks to Barcelona or New Zealand Rugby.

The joint approach taken in Munster doesn’t only apply to new events, but also maximising the visitor experience from existing events.

For Munster home games they also work closelywith sponsors such as Heineken and Diageo who can offer assistance and funding to bring animation, street art and street entertainment right through the weekend, increasing footfall into the city centre bars and restaurants.

The aim is to deliver in terms of the customer experience so the reputation will be enhanced and it will stimulate return visits.

Not all sports tourists are filling stadiums though. Fáilte Ireland estimates over €200 each year is brought into the country through golf tourism. 155,000 overseas visitors will play golf whilst here, and Fáilte Ireland research shows the opportunity to tee off here is the major reason most of them choose to come. Sport tourists can be big spenders too - a golfer will spend on average three times what a typical visitor to the country will spend, and they are loyal - almost eighty percent of the golfers surveyed were on a successive visit to Ireland’s greens.

Sean Lally, General Manager of the Limerick Strand Hotel is as passionate an advocate of amateur sport as he is the professional codes. His hotel tends to host major sports team appearing at the stadium as evidenced by a giant wall of signed jerseys, but he agrees there is much more to sport tourism than this. “We’ll have over eight thousand people in the city for the marathon , the ten k run and the five k run over the riverfest weekend in the May bank holiday.” he says “ There’s an aura of sport around the city”. Limerick also hosts the hugely successful amateur tag rugby Pig n’ Porter event, and Thomond Park are considering launching a second summer tournament for amateurs who dream of playing their tag final in the same stadium that Munster call home.

Thirteen Limerick hotels now have a working group that meet once per month with sales directors and general managers involved. The idea Lally explains is that while everyone wants their own slice of pie a bigger pie means more for everyone. By creating being proactive, by growing, winning, or just plain inventing your own sporting events you can grow your own business rather than waiting for someone else to do it for you.

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INTERNSHIPS

Supporting successful internships in the tourism industry

Fáilte Ireland actively supports JobBridge, the National Internship Scheme and is encouraging tourism businesses and unemployed people to participate in the Scheme.

Fáilte Ireland is also encouraging tourism businesses to provide an Internship to unemployed graduates in marketing/ sales/IT/business/languages and will provide an intensive marketing training programme for these Interns.

JobBridge offers work experience placements in host organisations for a 6 or 9 month period to people who are unemployed for at least 3 months. A weekly allowance of €50 per week on top of the existing social welfare entitlement is payable to the Intern by the State for the period of the Internship Tourism businesses offering marketing Internships via JobBridge can now benefit from a number of supports from Fáilte Ireland including a new Resource Guide to steer them through the Internship process 18

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as well as a fully-subsidised five-day tourism marketing training programme for marketing Interns.

Satisfied Interns The first of the training programmes got off to a great start in Dublin in December with what was by all accounts a great learning and networking experience!

Feedback from the 21 participating Interns was very positive. This was particularly satisfying given the range of disciplines the Interns involved came from, including marketing, sales, IT, business and languages. All were just starting a six or nine month marketing-related Internship in tourism businesses throughout the country.

The training, which is for five consecutive days, is broadly based around Fáilte Ireland’s Sales Connect initiative, a suite of supports to help tourism enterprises to grow their overseas business. The programme focuses on understanding Ireland’s key overseas markets, what they are looking for, and how to market to them effectively. It covers a range of interesting topics including: • The Irish Tourism Industry and Tourism Trends • Selling at In-Ireland and Overseas Promotions • Developing an Overseas Marketing Plan Using Fáilte Ireland’s Integrated Marketing Guide • Winning More Overseas Business Using Fáilte Ireland’s Sales Connect Toolkit • E-Marketing and Web Internationalisation • Managing Communications and the Media • Preparing for the Internship Placement

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Three additional ‘Training for Marketing Interns’ programmes are scheduled for the beginning of 2012, as follows: South East: Week beginning 26th March West: Week beginning 23rd April Dublin: Week beginning 30th April Kevin Moriarty, Failte Ireland’s Head of Business Support said: “The programme aims to ensure that Interns gain insight and knowledge on Ireland’s key overseas markets and how to effectively sell Ireland, as a destination, once they have been offered a position under the Internship scheme. This training will be rolled out in other areas in the coming months.

“Offering a tourism marketing Internship through JobBridge is ideal for any tourism business looking to grow its overseas visitor numbers as it offers a number of benefits to the employer including bringing in fresh ideas, new thinking and providing access to potential new employees.”

Satisfied Businesses A number of tourism businesses have already recruited a marketing Intern through the Scheme, and are very happy with the results to date.

According to Zoë Fitzgerald, Marketing Director at Renvyle House Hotel in Galway, the experience is very positive for both the business and the Intern: “The Intern is keen to learn, brings fresh ideas and is helping us to grow our overseas profile”.

Meanwhile, at the Jeanie Johnson Tallship and Famine Museum in Dublin’s Docklands, manager John O’Neill is of the view that the Internship process “has been of great benefit to us as a company’” and he would “highly recommend it to any companies who have yet to try it”.

At Chapter 40 Restaurant in Killarney, Co. Kerry, the marketing Intern is working with co-proprietor Mark Murphy, on developing a structure that will ensure customers are aware of Chapter 40, “not waiting around for the ‘phone to ring” but

now proactively “going after the customer”.

According to Mark, the Internship process provides “a very unique opportunity for small operators with limited budgets”, and he recommends that such businesses take advantage of this opportunity.

At the Irish National Heritage Park in Wexford, General Manager Maura Bell hopes to be able to employ the Intern after the 9 month Internship, even on a part time basis, and encourages tourism businesses to take an Intern on to get the benefits the Heritage Park has.

According to Fergal Somers, manager at Ballyhoura Fáilte in County Limerick, the process is mutually beneficial in that “the Interns gain actual work experience in their field of study as well as mentoring and support, networking opportunities, and training”, and in turn “the Interns bring a wealth of new knowledge, energy and enthusiasm to a company”.

Finally, Tina O’Dwyer, Animator with the Burren Ecotourism Network was particularly happy with the Fáilte Ireland Training Programme for Tourism Interns which “provided an excellent orientation for our Intern, providing a marketing and salesspecific focus that structured her learning and work programme from the very beginning”. On the programme, the Intern “was able to avail of top-class professional training from industry experts which added great value to her Intern experience which we were able to benefit from in the area of international tourism marketing”.

Further Information The only place that potential Interns can view Internship positions or apply for them is via the JobBridge Website (www.jobbridge.ie). It is vital therefore if you are interested in this initiative that you advertise your Internship via JobBridge as soon as possible. It is important also to include ‘Tourism Marketing’ in the title when you are advertising the Internship.

This will help us to ensure that the right graduates are directed to the right Internships.

Contact your local Fáilte Ireland representative or Breda McNally breda.mcnally@failteireland.ie - for further information including the Resource Guide that will help you to apply for and recruit the best marketing Intern for your business (for contact details for your local representative see www.failteireland.ie).

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ONLINE MARKETING

Very Pinteresting!

A new social media tool As social media sites go, Pinterest (pinterest.com) doesn’t at first sound much different from sites like Tumblr, Snip.it or even Flickr and Youtube. Launched in early 2010, Pinterest is basically a classy-looking visual online scrapbook. But the ease with which you can add information and reorganise content, and the way that it is shared, is what makes it very different from other sites. Different enough in fact to merit an inclusion in Time Magazine’s gallery of the “50 Best Websites of 2011”.

Pinterest.com is now one of the top 10 social networks. The site’s stated mission statement is to “connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting.” Once you have an account, you can easily “pin” photos or videos to the site and have them arranged in your different “boards”, each of which can have a certain theme. It’s like visual tweeting.

The highly visual site has already achieved more than 10 million unique users, with a growth rate faster than the flagging Google+. Interestingly, over 95% of those currently interacting with Pinterest are female. That’s not surprising giving the amount of fashion-oriented visual content that is currently on the site. But the content profile is rapidly evolving.

Getting Online The sign-up process is a little tedious. At time of writing, you can only join Pinterest by invitation from an existing user (though you can also request an invitation on the site). Once you have an invitation, your sign-up process first assumes you will connect Pinterest to your Facebook or Twitter account. This means that, by default, your actions on Pinterest will be automatically shared on your Facebook timeline and/or Twitter account unless you expressly turn off that sharing in your Pinterest settings later.

Once you’ve signed in initially, it will then suggest people for you to immediately

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Figure 1. From the Pinterest.com site, you can add information by using the Add a Pin function to enter a URL or by using Upload a Pin to choose a file to upload.

follow based on your defined interests. Again, this is a default step so you’ll probably have to go and unfollow some or all of these unknown people later. But it is a good introduction to the platform to see what others are doing. And in the absence of any of your own friends being currently on the site, it’s not a bad way to start you off until you get the feel of it all.

Adding Stuff to Boards Boards are analogous to pinboards that you stick interesting information on. You can create any number of boards and theme each one with whatever you are interested in collecting or displaying, for example “Hotels that I’ve stayed in”, “Places I dream of”, “Architecture I admire” etc. Pinterest requires that your boards fall into certain pre-defined categories however. You can choose whether your boards are open to allow others to pin stuff on them too and collaborate on your theme.

Adding content to your boards on to your Pinterest profile is simple enough. On the site menu bar is an add function so you can choose files from your computer and add them to a specific board via the “Upload a Pin” function (see figure 1). Or you can enter a URL and let Pinterest go gather all the images at that address for you to choose from using the “Add a Pin” function.

Better still, there is a bookmarklet option that you can install on your browser’s bookmarks bar so that images on any site you are visiting can be quickly pinned (see figure 2). Unfortunately, the behaviour of the bookmarklet is patchy, since images or videos that you see in a site may not actually be visible to the Pinterest bookmarklet at all if they are background images, or Flash content, or elements of certain javascript slideshows etc. Doubtless, this will improve but for now only simple image extraction is possible with the bookmarklet. You can’t use the

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ONLINE MARKETING Likes, Comments and Follows The ubiquitous idea of “like” and comment is here also. Similar to Facebook, to comment on other people’s boards, you both have to be following each other. But in terms of how your content is shown online, the parallel with Facebook stops. Your content is visible to everyone.

Like Twitter’s re-tweet, people can re-pin your content to their own boards if it suits their theme. Good quality content can quickly go viral in this way, though it’s hard to track where your content is ending up.

Figure 2. The “Pin It” bookmarklet is the easiest way to add content to your boards directly, by placing a bookmark in your browsers bookmarks bar to capture images from the site you are visiting. It can be installed from https://pinterest.com/about/goodies/

Figure 3. Hotel Orfila in Madrid on Pinterest is building local information of interest as well as themes for potential guest categories.

bookmarklet for capturing Facebook content for example, and there is certainly huge potential for copyright violation also in capturing other people’s images. This is bound to become an issue as the site gathers momentum. At least what you pin always carries the original URL of the source, so tracking the origin of pinned content is easy.

There is also of course a Pinterest iPhone app to make adding photos a snip.

Dr Des O’Mahony is CEO and Founder of Bookassist (bookassist.org), the technology and online strategy partner for hotels.

Discovering is the New Search The home page of Pinterest is a constantly changing random view of people’s interactions with the site. It can be fascinating to scroll through, and quite addictive. Especially since the home page is designed to be “limitless” and scrolling just continually adds new content to the bottom so you never reach the end.

Browsing in this way allows for easy discovery of new information in a way that search cannot tackle, since to search you need to already know what you want. This is where a site like Pinterest can have a real impact, since it allows ideas or concepts to be visually assessed and to trigger ideas that might eventually lead to a product search or purchase elsewhere. In that sense, Pinterest has an opportunity to be an influencer on purchasing and on service choice in a way that Google currently cannot.

Your Opportunities Pinterest’s search bar is the easiest way to sift the material and find interesting content. A simple search for “hotel” or “restaurant” reveals some great content, and shows the opportunities that hoteliers and restaurateurs have to get quality content onto the site.

What is very clear is that high quality visual content is a must. The strong visual appeal means that interactions are highest for stuff that clearly stands out from the page.

Organising a hotel’s or restaurant’s material into quirky, interesting boards is also a draw. Few people will look twice at boards called “My Pictures”, but unusual titles and good comments written with a view to good search engine marketing and keywords will certainly help move your content to front of stage.

The key measure of success of content on Pinterest is whether your content is repinned or not. Just like retweets, you can’t get your message out to a wider audience unless you do something unique and compelling. That’s the challenge for hotels and restaurants on Pinterest.

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TRAINING

Hotel managers of the future well equipped for challenges ahead Eighteen trainee hotel managers have graduated as part of the Fáilte Ireland Trainee Manager Development Programme (TMDP) at a ceremony held in the Castleknock Hotel & Country Club, Dublin on Thursday, 26 January 2012. The graduation was attended by over eighty family, friends, hotel mentors and other industry practitioners. The’Graduate of the Year’prize was awarded to Matti Reuter, from the Clarion Hotel in Sligo, for his academic achievements and his contribution to the hotel over the past three years.

Sean O’Malley, Manager of Education Operations, Fáilte Ireland, said: “We, in Fáilte Ireland, are confident that the skills of these TMDP graduates will make a valuable contribution to the industry, helping it sustain a truly professional and progressive workforce, comparable with the best in the world.”

The Trainee Manager Development Programme (TMDP) is a recognized distance learning education route to training as a hotel manager and provides an ideal platform for people who want to kick start their career within tourism. The TMDP programme allows students to study at third level with minimal time away from their job. The duration of the programme is three years, during which time students complete rigorous on the job training in their place of employment and academic studies in Galway Institute of Technology.

The programme, initially a collaboration between Fáilte Ireland, the Irish Hospitality Institute (IHI) the Irish Hotel Federation (IHF) and Galway Mayo Institute of Technology,(GMIT) has seen over 500 successful graduates enter the industry to date. Many of these graduates now hold senior positions in Irish and international hotels.

The current Trainee Manager Development Programme (TMDP) has been in existence for 23 years and students graduation from this programme are awarded a Level 6 Higher Certificate in Hotel Management. In 2010, Fáilte Ireland published a review of Management Education for the Hospitality and Tourism Industry in Ireland, which was informed

by International best practice and the needs of industry.

Following this review, it became clear that there was a need for a new industry based management development programme. It was also clear that any new industry based programme should be offered as a degree programme at level 7 22

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Sean O’Malley, Manager of Education Operations, Fáilte Ireland is pictured congratulating Matti Reuter (right), who was named as Graduate of the Year 2011, at the award ceremony in the Castleknock Hotel & Country Club.

(l. to r.): Sean O'Malley, Fáilte Ireland; Graduate Dharam Kumar Beeharry and Orla Stack, HR Manager, the D Hotel with Natasha Kinsella, Irish Hospitality Institute.

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Fourteen trainee hotel managers graduated as part of the Fáilte Ireland Trainee Manager Development Programme (TMDP) at the ceremony held in the Castleknock Hotel & Country Club, Dublin. Pictured with the graduates are Natasha Kinsella, Irish Hospitality Institute; Peter McCann, Chairman TMDP; Sean O’Malley, Fáilte Ireland; Gerry O’Neill, GMIT; Stephen Hanna, Chariman IHF (Dublin branch) and George Finnegan, TMDP Co-ordinator.

(l. to r.): Graduate, Asta Balciuniene, Park Inn Mulranny; Stephen Hanna, Chairman IHF Dublin Branch; Natasha Kinsella, Irish Hospitality Institute; Graduate, Stephen Rogers, Hotel Westport and Sean O’Malley, Fáilte Ireland.

(l. to r.): Sean O’Malley, Fáilte Ireland; Graduates, Sandhya Purlackee and Blanka Szymanska, who trained at the Glenlo Abbey Hotel with Peter McCann, Chariman TMDP.

on the National Qualifications Framework.

(B.A. or BSc. in Hotel Management).

Following a tendering process, IT Tralee was appointed as the national centre to deliver the newly developed BA in Hotel Management. The BA will be delivered by blended learning, incorporating blocks of study in the Institute, on-line modules and tutorials and work based learning in the hotel industry over a three year period.

Commenting on the design of the new programme, Mary Rose Stafford, ITT, said: “This structure is in line with international best practice where there is considerable emphasis on work based learning and where students are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning, integrating academic theory and work place practice. The course also incorporates significant e-learning technologies facilitating course participants to learn flexibly, ensuring the programme is compatible with their work commitments”.

The Institute have been recruiting for the programme for the past few months and this week 20 trainee hotel managers, from around Ireland, commenced the new BA in Hotel Management in the Institute of Technology, Tralee. Course participants are nominated for the programme by their employer. Hotels from Sligo, Mayo, Cavan, Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford, Kilkenny, Cork as well as Kerry have forwarded candidates to the course.

The President of the Institute of Technology, Tralee, Dr Oliver Murphy has welcomed the students on the programme, highlighted the importance of hospitality and tourism industry not only in Kerry but also nationally. “The tourism and hospitality sector has been identified nationally as a

☞

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(l. to r.): Monica Dunne, Cork; Jason Moore, Nenagh; George Finnegan, Chairman, TMDP; Matti Reuter, Graduate of the Year 2011; and Lorraine Kennedy, Cork.

priority area for development in aiding Ireland’s economic recovery. The IT Tralee is well positioned to become the national provider for this management training programme due to a number of factors including our excellence in teaching in this area, our state-of-the-art facilities which mirror what students will expect to find in industry and our location in County Kerry the capital of Irish tourism.”

Fáilte Ireland, the national tourism development authority, was established in 2003 to guide and promote tourism as a leading indigenous component of the Irish economy.

The tourism and hospitality industry employs an estimated 170,000 people and generates almost €5 billion in revenue a year.

Past graduates of the TMDP include: John O’Flynn, Manager, Foto Island Resort; Stephen Hanna, Manager, Camden Court Hotel and Chairman Dublin IHF branch; Liam Doyle former manager of the Shelbourne Hotel and Michael Magner, owner/manager, Vienna Woods Hotel.

The graduates received the following awards: A Higher Certificate in Business Studies (Hotel Management) awarded by GMIT and accredited by HETAC and placed on the National Framework of Qualifications at level 6 and a joint IHF, IHI, Fáilte Ireland Certificate in Hotel and Catering Management. Graduates also received membership of the Irish Hospitality Institute.

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(l. to r.): Sean O’Malley, Fáilte Ireland; Graduates, Colm O’Leary and Niall McEvoy, Wexford, with Natasha Kinsella, Irish Hospitality Ireland.

GRADUATE

Matti Reuter, Graduate of the Year Diarmuid Hayes Sandhya Purlackee Blanka Szymanska Jason Moore Niall McEvoy Colm O’Leary Eoin Jacob Vincent Flood Patrick Hogan Dharam Kumar Beharry Krzysztof Jastrzebski Lorraine Kennedy Monica Dunne Suzie Conway Sebastian Block Stephen Rogers Asta Balciuniene

HOTEL Clarion Hotel Sligo Glenview Hotel, Co Wicklow Glenlo Abbey Hotel, Galway Glenlo Abbey Hotel, Galway Abbey Court Hotel, Nenagh, Co Tipperary Ferrycarrig Hotel, Wexford Brandon House Hotel and Spa, Co Wexford Lyrath Estate Hotel, Kilkenny Hotel Kilmore, Co Cavan Portlaoise Heritage Hotel, Laois The D Hotel, Louth Fitzgeralds Woodlands House Hotel, Limerick Fitzgerald’s Vienna Woods, Cork Tower Hotel, Cork Aghadoe Heights Hotel, Kerry Knock House Hotel, Co Mayo Hotel Westport , Co Mayo Park Inn Mulranny, Westport, Co Mayo

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BUSINESS REVIEW

Full steam ahead Almost half of accommodation providers in the tourist industry expect their overnight business to increase during 2012. After an extremely successful 2011, Fáilte Ireland is optimistic in predicting an increase in business from all markets for the year ahead.

New data released by Fáilte Ireland shows that 70% of businesses in the tourism sector offered more competitive prices and reduced their operating costs last year.

These increased efforts by the industry as a whole has been vital for Irelands tourism industry and its future.

Looking forward to next year, they are targeting a 2% to 5% increase in British visitors, and increases of up to 7 per cent in visitors from Europe and the US. Last year visitor numbers from Britain increased by almost 4 per cent to 2.8 million, while arrivals from mainland Europe increased by 8 per cent. US arrivals grew by more than 5 per cent.

Fáilte Ireland commented that it is the first time in three years that the tourism industry was optimistic about the year ahead. Fáilte Ireland chairman Redmond O’Donoghue said that the “extraordinary success” of visits by Queen Elizabeth and Barack Obama had provided priceless coverage and boosted the feel-good factor for Ireland. These visits alone generated almost €300 million worth of publicity through 40,000 articles and broadcasts, according to Fáilte Ireland.

The industry needs to build itself up at a constant rate using effective marketing, national events, tourist attractions, the improved access to Ireland and maintenance of the 9% VAT rate.

The top priority needs to be increasing value for money across what we offer. The industry is demonstrating an innovative and flexible approach in all areas. In 2011 the majority of businesses had increased sales and marketing initiatives, reduced operating costs and provided competitive prices. The UK market will remain its key focus with the aim of recovering the market share we once had and building on it.

There are strong indications that more Irish people will holiday at home this year and its important that we try to make this a regular occurrence for families living in Ireland. Mr Quinn said Fáilte Ireland would be embarking on an aggressive homeholiday marketing campaign as a result, focusing in on Irelands attractions and better value offers for Irish families.

However, the group has cautioned against complacency, saying that a change in consumer confidence internationally and an increase in fuel and energy costs could have a negative impact on tourist numbers. There was also a marked softening in visitor numbers in the final three months of last year so we need to keep on top of our sales and marketing and aim to keep our standards and service to a positively high level. Fáilte Ireland’s chief executive Shaun Quinn said: “2012 is extraordinarily difficult to predict and that’s an understatement.” Mr Quinn stated that the greatest threat to the fragile recovery of our economy is resulting from global factors: “Any downturn in the global economy - or even significant fears about a downturn - has the potential to undermine the fragile recovery made so far in Irish tourism.”

Mr Quinn stated: “Tourism is an export business and one whose fortunes are heavily influenced by consumer confidence.” Accommodation saw the highest

growth but the increase in room occupancy was a result of increased sales as capacity remained on a par with 2010, which is extremely positive for the hotels sales teams. Already, Ireland is seen as a better value destination than in previous years, particularly amongst French and German visitors. While overseas visitors’ perception of the value for money improved, British visitors perception was not to the same extent, due to the impact of the sterling exchange rate. Mr Quinn also pointed out that some rural parts of the State saw no increase in business.

Fáilte Ireland has a busy year ahead and many goals have been set. The Wild Atlantic Drive aims to promote package drives from Donegal to West Cork. This will be a fun themed driving trail from Donegal to Cork. Work will also continue this year on the project ‘The Gathering 2013’ which will encourage Irish people abroad to return home next year. This festival is being billed to be Ireland’s biggest ever tourism project.

They will be also working closely with Tourism Ireland on Project Britain; the redesigning of our sales pitch to the UK. They will be working with businesses to help them close deals with overseas markets, giving advise and help to businesses in targeting potential customers, and aiding businesses in providing good value for money. They are

“ Work will also continue this year on the project ‘The Gathering 2013’ which will encourage Irish people abroad to return home next year.

This festival is being billed to be Ireland’s biggest ever tourism project.

committed to encouraging the government to invest in infrastructure, increasing our attractions.

Mr O’Donoghue said: “We will continue to identify opportunities to get the most out of this country’s inherent appeal to provide compelling reasons for more and more overseas visitors to come here.”

The overall message is that the positive trend we are experiencing should continue as long as the industry continues to pay close attention to costs.

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BUSINESS TOOLS

Don’t meet today’s challenges with yesterday’s tools

Continuing improvement in value for money has been noted as a key factor in the drive to improve Ireland’s tourism market share in the year ahead.

Overseas visitors’ perception of the value for money that is available in Ireland, particularly in the areas of eating out, drink and the cost of living, has continued to improve throughout 2011. Preliminary indications from Fáilte Ireland’s Survey of Overseas Travellers also indicate that satisfaction with value for money is at its best among French and German visitors since the introduction of the Euro ten years ago.

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There are also a number of other positive factors that will drive Irish tourism in 2012 including a strong programme of events across the country, new and continued investment in the development of tourism attractions, and improved international access to Ireland.

This is all good news for tourism, which is good news for Ireland. But how can we make sure that our tourism sector is ready and equipped to make hay while the sun shines?

Fáilte Ireland has, in the last 12 months, put a particular emphasis on supporting the Irish tourism industry to increase their international customer base, with an emphasis on our four key target markets - Britain, France, Germany and North America.

As part of this a number of toolkits and resources have been developed and are now available online to help businesses work smarter in 2012.

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BUSINESS TOOLS

Among the online tools and resources currently available are: Business Tools - http://www.businesstools.failteireland.ie/ Practical tools tailored for your tourism business Fáilte Ireland’s Business Tools website provides Irish tourism and hospitality businesses with free access to a range of practical tools and templates focusing on business planning and business finance management, together with advice, information and tools for tourism start-ups. Topics covered include cashflow, costs, profit, sales, marketing, pricing, benchmarking and understanding your accounts. Tools include the Quick Business and Marketing Plan wizard, Business Health Check tools, Sales Action Plan wizard, Rate your Sales Expertise Online Self-Assessment and Benchmarking Tool for Hotels. All tools are tailormade to suit the wide range of tourism businesses which exist in Ireland and are laid out in an easy to use format to ensure that any business can avail of them.

Sales Connect - http://www.failteireland.ie/salesconnecttoolkit Sales Connect Toolkit The Sales Connect Toolkit is a comprehensive guide containing over 200 pages of useful market intelligence and practical tools to help guide you in selling your business to your most relevant overseas markets.

THE 4 KEY MARKETS - Great Britain, United States, Germany and France An entire chapter is dedicated to each of the 4 key overseas markets and provides detailed information to help you better understand and access each of these markets. For each country, detailed information is available including: • Market information, insights and business intelligence • Consumer behaviour research specific to each country • A guide highlighting services and products relevant to each market • The strengths and weaknesses of various distribution channels HOW TO BUILD RELATIONSHIPS AND PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS OVERSEAS Practical information and guidelines are presented to help you market your business to the overseas markets.

A range of easy to follow tips and advice will help you with the following: • Becoming involved in co-operative marketing campaigns • Getting the best from your website as well as online marketing tools • Building relationships with the media and engaging in good PR practices • Making the most of familiarisation trips for both trade and the media • Getting prepared for key trade and consumer shows Web Supports - http://www.failteireland.ie/websupports Practical Online Web Supports Tools Fáilte Ireland’s web supports section provides the industry with free access to a range of practical online tools such as presentations, checklists, how to guides and step-by-step videos which focus on helping you to develop and enhance your online presence. Topics covered include search engine optimisation, your online investment, converting website visitors, online selling, PR management, using mobile technology, Facebook, email marketing campaigns and many more. Videos include creating a Google alert, listening on Twitter, responding to a review in Tripadvisor and many more.

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ST. PATRICK’S DAY

Green Day Tourism Ireland has excelled for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations this year.

The list of iconic sites set to go green worldwide is a testament to the endeavour of all concerned. Major coups include the greening of Niagara Falls along with the TV tower in Berlin’s Alexanderplatz.

Tourism Minister Leo Varadkar stated: “St Patrick’s Day provides a unique shop window for Ireland around the world, for Irish tourism and for trade and investment.

That’s why we are using St Patrick’s Day to launch The Gathering 2013 in all of our main overseas markets. The Gathering 2013 will be the most important tourism initiative ever staged in Ireland, as we will be inviting the world to come and visit us.

This greening initiative and the other promotions will ensure we build up to 2013 by sustaining growth in overseas tourism in 2012.”

Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “Over 70 million people around the world claim links with the island of Ireland and St Patrick’s Day is a truly unique opportunity to reconnect them with their heritage and to showcase our wonderful tourism offering to a huge global audience. People across the world instantly identify St Patrick’s Day with Ireland and that heightened profile allows us to put the Ireland holiday experience in the spotlight from London to Sydney and Stockholm to New York.

“Our message this year is that there has never been a better time to visit the island of Ireland, with better-than-ever value from industry partners here and great things to do and see,” continued Niall Gibbons.

In Great Britain, our largest and most important tourism market, major sites including the London Eye will ‘go green’ on St Patrick’s Day, to capture the imagination of potential holidaymakers and focus attention on our intensive spring marketing drive. Millions of people in Britain and elsewhere around Europe will be tuning in to watch the England v Ireland rugby match at Twickenham in London on 17 March; Tourism Ireland’s highly visible sideline advertising will capitalise on the huge exposure of this high profile game. Tourism Ireland will participate in St Patrick’s promotions in Glasgow, Birmingham and London, capitalising on the opportunity to put the island of Ireland in a positive publicity spotlight.

In North America, Niagara Falls will ‘go green’ on St Patrick’s Day (on both the Canadian and the US sides), as will the Empire State Building in New York, the 32

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Chicago and San Antonio Rivers and the famous White House fountains. Ireland will ‘jump into’ Times Square on 17 March, when about 1.5 million New Yorkers will see Tourism Ireland’s new ads on the world-famous FOX screen.

Tourism Ireland has a host of consumer and trade promotions taking place around St Patrick’s Day and throughout the spring in the US, including sponsoring live coverage of the New York St Patrick’s Day parade on NBC, with film clips on Ireland.

For the first time ever, Tourism Ireland has arranged for the iconic Fernsehturn (television tower) in Berlin and the “Lighthouse” in Düsseldorf to ‘go green’ on St Patrick’s Day, to grab the attention of potential German visitors in both cities. Five skyscrapers - the Hötorgsskraporna buildings - in central Stockholm will also ‘go green’ over three days (15-18 March). Key Swedish travel trade and media contacts will be invited to attend a Tourism Ireland event in a venue overlooking the ‘greened’ Hötorgsskraporna buildings, at which TV chef and culinary blogger Donal Skehan will present a ‘flavour of Ireland’ and the new Aer Lingus flight from Stockholm to Dublin (service begins on 25 March) will be highlighted.

France and Germany are two of Tourism Ireland’s ‘top four’ markets and extensive TV advertising in both countries will reach almost 29 million potential holidaymakers this spring; the campaign in Germany also incorporates a cinema, radio and online advertising drive. Co-operative print advertising is under way around Europe in conjunction with Aer Lingus, targeting 5 million readers in cities with Aer Lingus flights to the island of Ireland.

In Dubai, the iconic Burj Al Arab hotel will ‘go green’ on 17 March, as will South Africa’s Table Mountain - a World Heritage Site and one of Cape Town’s most iconic landmarks and visitor attractions. The spotlight will be on Galway and Ireland when the Volvo Ocean Race arrives in Auckland in New Zealand just in time for St Patrick’s Day. The race attracts huge publicity around the world and with Galway due to host the grand finale this summer, the Auckland stopover is a great ‘hook’ for Tourism Ireland to reach the estimated 200,000 people who will visit the race village. And, once again this year, Auckland’s Sky Tower will ‘go green’ on 17 March.

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FOOD STANDARDS

A massive opportunity

Ireland, we keep telling ourselves, is fast gaining a reputation for producing food and for creating an ever-increasing range of quality food products.

There’s no doubt that it’s a growth industry. Farming has become sexy again and is going through a renaissance of activity and production. There seems to be no end to the conveyor belt of talented chefs emerging and of good quality restaurants and innovative food products as a result.

In short, we seem to have joined up the dots and created something very exciting a food and catering industry that is second to none; that is growing and evolving beautifully before our eyes; that is winning praise abroad and enriching the coffers of the state and making our collective national chests swell with pride and hope. The future of Culinary Ireland is looking bright.

Or is it? While no commentators can deny the dynamism and the upward surge of growth in all areas of the Irish food industry and in the increase in sophistication of the Irish palate, 2012 might be just the year to have a close look at where this industry is headed. If we are to enjoy a future of continued success, is it not prudent to turn our collective attention now 34

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towards creating the structures that will ensure that the Irish food industry of tomorrow will have a solid base from which to go forward?

Good Food Ireland is an organisation that has strived towards creating and maintaining standards in the food and hospitality industry.

“We have a unique brand,” says Good Food Ireland head Margaret Jeffares. “It’s the only one with standards that are based around locally-sourced produce... creating and maintaining standards is the crucial thing and I think that we have …creating and a massive opportunity now to push on; maintaining standards to keep bringing those standards is the crucial thing and through our restaurants.”

Jeffares sees her organisation as I think that we have a having formed a link and acting as a massive opportunity conduit between Fáilte Ireland and Bord now to push on; to Bia; as a catalyst of sorts for the keep bringing those combination of the hunger for good food in Ireland and the creative energy standards through our of an emerging class of artisanal food restaurants. producers, the latter often the result of dairy farmers being forced to diversify.

Over at the pig-meat side of the industry, a group of pork producers have also refound a certain confidence as well as setting standards for themselves in establishing the “Truly Irish” brand. Kerry pig farmer Michael McAuliffe is managing director of the brand, which was formed co-operative style by a group of 100 pig farmers who wanted to re-instil values of quality in the eyes of the public.

“At a wedding or a social gathering of some sort,” says McAuliffe, “people would often say to me ‘What have you done to Irish pork? It doesn’t taste like it used to.

The quality is so bad.’ I became extremely frustrated because I knew that I produced a premium product, but between me producing it and it being processed and sold in a shop, the quality got lost along the way. So I decided that there was

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FOOD STANDARDS only one way out of this - I thought that we need to get farmers together and create our own brand.”

As with Good Food Ireland, Truly Irish is a success. In both cases, diverse and all as they may be but both part of what you might call the food-and-catering chain of supply, a need has been identified and a solution found. In both cases, we’re talking about private individuals or groups of individuals who have pioneered the right approach in the knowledge that people were looking for an honest presentation of good food where there is transparency and a passion for doing things right.

But where is the government in all of this? We’re living in times when our leaders talk about working towards gaining We’re living in times back sovereignty over our Republic, but when our leaders talk about it is in vital areas like this that we have working towards gaining no loss of sovereignty and where we back sovereignty over our should be exercising our authority for Republic, but it is in vital the benefit of our citizens and of our areas like this that we have industry. no loss of sovereignty and As our own food and catering where we should be industry develops at pace, innovators exercising our authority for and private organisations are filling the gap where more ownership needs to be the benefit of our citizens taken by our government on behalf of and of our industry. the citizens of Ireland.

In France, the sort of systems defining origin and quality that these people have been pioneering have been established by their Department of Agriculture for 80 years. It’s called the AOC system, covering agricultural and artisanal produce for the whole country. Despite the talk in English-language media about a decline in French cuisine, there simply isn’t one, except if measured in relative terms against

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progress in other countries. It’s a country still producing food and service at a level that others still take their measure against. Here in Ireland, we have produce and talent every bit as good as in France or anywhere else. What we do need to develop and move forward is (as the likes of Jeffares and McAuliffe have proven) a structure upon which to build and develop.

The question is: ‘Where does Irish food and catering want to see itself ten, twenty or thirty years from now?’ Will the rising star of the innovators of today have burned out, leaving an industry floundering for the next visionary or will we ensure that we don’t move backwards? The reason that French food and catering isn’t moving backwards is because it’s a country where those in power saw that the protection of that industry was important and they established a system that would define what they had and protect it.

Here in Ireland, we now have traceability for certain meat products and we do have particularly clear definitions of what is organic produce, with over 1,600 licensees at present. After that, it’s more or less down to the looser definitions as forced upon us by the EU. The Taste Council is one government organisation which seems to be looking at possibly moving in the right direction.

Describing itself as a “voluntary representative group of the smaller food business sector made up largely of local, artisan and speciality food producers”, it was established under the auspices of Bord Bia and its board includes such culinary luminaries as Hugo Arnold, Michael Kelly and Darina Allen.

Its current chairman is Evan Doyle of the Brooklodge Hotel in Co Wicklow. As someone in the position of chairing a sortof Foodies-of-Ireland think-tank, he acknowledges that there is a need to define and legislate certain areas and expressions so as to protect the advancements made.

“One of the things on our agenda is looking at various words that might be used or mis-used with regard to labelling, such as ‘traditional’ or ‘farmer’; words such as that, which have loose meaning in Ireland but which are legislated for in France and elsewhere.

“The French AOC system is good and there are certain flaws to it, but legalising certain words that can be used or mis-used would, I think, be the first step towards moving the artisan producer to a higher degree of authentication rather than other people copy-catting their product.”

Although the Taste Council’s heart might be in the right place, it seems as though it is, thus far, little more than a culinary thinktank. The organisation is in existence for nine years and as renowned food writer Biddy White Lennon puts it: “it’s sometimes hard to know precisely what they are doing.”

There is a massive opportunity for certain in the food sector in Ireland and, by extension in the whole food and catering industry in the country. We are witnessing a huge asset that’s being created and is evolving before our eyes. But there’s a danger of that opportunity being lost if our government doesn’t do its job and define and protect what we have.

Conor Power

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FOOD EXCELLENCE

Saviour of L’Univers

The south-eastern French city of Nice is within a half-hour’s drive of the Italian border and is France’s fifth biggest city.

With an official population of 340,000 and being located on the built-up strip that is the Cote d’Azur, it is a large and busy place.

A stroll around its attractive city centre quickly gives you clues about its cultural heritage that are writ large in the wide 19thcentury boulevards, grand piazzas and narrow streets with yellow ochre walls and green shutters. This is by far the most Italian-looking city in France. Formerly part of the Kingdom of Savoy, it only became part of the French Republic in 1860, after a plebiscite in which the people (i.e. the aristocracy, not the ordinary folk) were given the choice of becoming part of Italy or part of France. The great Italian patriot and father of the Italian Republic Giuseppe Garibaldi was born here and a large statue stands in honour of him in the middle of Place Garibaldi - a huge and very Italianlooking square.

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This is, in short, a city where France blends seamlessly with Italy and the resulting fusion has given rise to an exciting culinary heritage that is as healthy and nourishing as it is important. Apart from Lyon, Nice is the only city in France that enjoys its own official AOC classification for its cuisine.

There are four establishments in the The décor is arguably city that have been honoured with a Michelin star. One of the most the most unexciting thing consistent and popular is “L’Univers” on about the restaurant. Not the broad Avenue Jean-Jaurès that that it’s boring or anything straddles the divide between the “Vieux like that, it’s just that it Nice” and the more modern city built up seems to be the one thing in the 19th century. It has had one star consistently over the last 12 years. missing and the effect of Christian Plumail is owner and head the experience of eating chef of establishment which has been a there is all the more restaurant under that name as long as powerful for it.

Nice has existed as a French city, despite, as he points out, the name of the street on which it stands having changed name three times in the interim.

On the day I visited, it was full with neatly dressed patrons during a working day.

The décor is arguably the most unexciting thing about the restaurant. Not that it’s boring or anything like that, it’s just that it seems to be the one thing missing and the effect of the experience of eating there is all the more powerful for it.

Plumail speaks a fluent, clear brand of French-accented English. He sits at our table immediately after the meal, giving the time to talk to an Irish journalist. An

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FOOD EXCELLENCE energetic 50-something, he manages to give his full attention in an unexpectedly relaxed manner while all the while keeping an eye on the movement in the dining room. From time to time, he gets up to shake hands with a departing guest or to have a quick word with another before rejoining us at our table and seamlessly continuing the conversation where he left off.

“For relaxation,” he says, “I run marathons. Every year, I do a few of them - New York, Paris... and here in Nice I’m currently training for the Iron Man Triathlon.” He isn’t joking. In a business where high energy levels and hyper-sensitivity to detail come as standard, perhaps you do need something extreme to achieve balance.

In recent years, a lot of reports in the English-speaking press have been talking consistently of the decline in French cuisine worldwide. For many, France is seen as a decaying former world power in the culinary arts - a place where dynamism exists less and less while in other countries, it is on the rise. A few years ago in an RTE radio interview, outspoken chef Richard Corrigan went as far as to say For relaxation I run “France is finished!” saying that the shorter working week in France would marathons. Every year, sound the death knell to the dominance I do a few of them of the French food industry and that the country wouldn’t be able to keep up to New York, Paris... and speed with faster developers like Spain.

In Nice today, there’s certainly no here in Nice I’m evidence of any culinary decline. The standard of food and service appears to currently training for be high in a city whose public have the Iron Man Triathlon. been long accustomed to expecting a certain high level of both. The large

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numbers of locals patronising the likes of family-run Acchiardo or the slow-food specialists Les Deux Canailles bears testament to this.

“I think that some well-known French chefs have created a bad impression of French cuisine,” says Plumail when I put the question to him whether or not French cuisine is on the decline. “There has been a certain amount of laziness and taking things for granted amongst certain individuals... the likes of star chefs who are invited out to Singapore or wherever and spend most of their time playing golf.

That’s not good for the image of French food abroad.

“I do some consulting work in Turkey, for example, but I go there and work hard in the kitchen when I’m there.”

Plumail opened his first restaurant in his early twenties immediately after finishing his military service. Now a celebrity in this region and in France in general through his restaurant and his regular radio show, the objective is not so much to fly the French flag but rather to focus on doing things right for his customers. As for the future of French cuisine, he firmly believes that despite the behaviour of some top culinary artists, the basic structure that is the basis of the quality and success of the country’s cuisine and catering industry remains intact.

“The quality and variety of ingredients is still there,” he says. “The number of different vegetables available all year round in each region is a case in point. The number of cheeses that each region has, for example, is something that you simply don’t have in other countries, let alone in regions in other countries. It’s the same for wine.”

The afore-mentioned AOC classification system was established in an effort to clarify and classify levels of quality of agricultural produce, as well as providing information on the origin of produce. It’s a system that has been in place in France since the 1930s and explains in part, at least, why French cuisine is still going strong.

Here in Ireland, such systems are a more recent phenomenon and we are now seeing their value in the food and restaurant industries as our own food industry develops in a world where origin and quality are the buzz words that strike the right note amongst the consuming public.

The oft-asked question of whether or not the French food industry is or has been in decline is a moot one for the Irish food and restaurant industries. The more pertinent one, therefore, is what we can still learn from a country that has been doing something for many decades that we’re still developing.

Conor Power H&RT FEBRUARY/MARCH ‘12

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TRADE FAIR

Open for business Bord Bia once again proactively promoted trade development in the food and hospitality industry with Marketplace International 2012 at Dublin’s Convention Centre recently. This one-day event saw 177 Irish food and drink companies meet with 520 international buyers, 200 of which were from the food service and hospitality sector and represented a combined purchasing power of €7 billion.

The event was the largest of its kind ever staged by Bord Bia and was host to trade buyers representing some of the biggest retail and foodservice global giants including Sainsburys, Selfridges, Tesco, Asda, Carrefour, Delhaize, Mercadona and Alcampo as well as smaller domestic retailers such as Superquinn, Londis, Applegreen and Avoca. Attendees from further afield included representatives from China, Russia and the Middle East.

Following feedback from Marketplace 2010, Bord Bia developed a comprehensive training programme for companies to ensure they were adequately prepared for Marketplace 2012. Through a series of training workshops, food, drink, food service and hospitality companies availed of advice on logistics, distribution costs, choosing export markets and sales pitch techniques. These specially devised training modules assisted companies in developing skills and capabilities for writing new business.

The event was opened by the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney TD who emphasised the importance of events such as Marketplace 2012 in providing a crucial platform for businesses to make the international connections they require to drive growth. He also expressed his commitment to opening new markets for Irish food while positioning Ireland globally as an innovative and top quality service provider and producer. He spoke of optimism and the importance of innovation when he said- ‘the record €8.9 billion achieved in 2011 marks the resilience of the Irish food and drinks industry and its positivity and determination to supply buyers and consumers with the very best in 38

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quality and innovative products. We need companies to be ambitious for themselves and for the industry as a whole’.

Chairman of Bord Bia Michael Carey’s key message echoed that of the Minister.

He said-’this is an industry where world-class commitments to quality and food safety are routine, where the needs of some of the most sophisticated consumers are met on a daily basis and where double-digit growth has been achieved in its exports over the last two years’. Mr. Carey emphasised Ireland’s strong position in light of the increase of the value of Irish food and drink exports by 12% in 2011 to reach the all-time high of €9 billion. The strongest performing categories are dairy (€2.6 billion), meat (€2.59 billion), prepared foods (€1.5 billion) and seafood (€420 million) making this Ireland’s largest indigenous industry. This, he said, combined with the nature of the event sends a clear message to international traders that we are a country with top quality products and services and are ready and eager to do business.

At the event Bord Bia’s Chief Executive Aidan Cotter also briefed delegates on another priority of the organisation- its innovative sustainability programme. Since May 2011, Bord Bia has been auditing and measuring the carbon footprint of 500 Irish beef farms each week, with almost half of the 32,000 certified members of its Beef Quality Assurance Scheme already covered to date. A similar model for the dairy industry being developed by Bord Bia in conjunction with Teagasc is now at an advanced stage, while plans are also in place to incorporate measures for waterfoot printing and biodiversity.

Mr. Cotter explained to attendees the programme is not just going to strengthen Ireland’s green image, it is also good for business and cost-reduction right across the food and hospitality sector- ‘The scope of our sustainability programme is without parallel anywhere in the world and will create a unique position for our industry in the international marketplace. As our farms improve their carbon footprint scores over time, they are also improving their efficiencies and lowering their costs in a virtuous cycle that is good for our farms, good for our environment, and good for our customers’.

Bord Bia also took possible opportunities for Irish businesses beyond the event itself. The organisation capitalised on the buyers’ stay in Ireland by organising additional itineraries including customized tailor-made itineraries devised for buyers from certain markets such as Eastern Europe, China and Russia. This allowed interested representatives to examine Ireland’s food service, hospitality and retail sectors, which again offered a crucial opportunity for Irish companies to make international contacts, widen business possibilities and write new business in existing and new markets.

In addition Bord Bia put a rigorous follow up plan in place to assist companies convert the opportunities arising at the event into real, measurable business. This took place in a special ‘follow up’ day in the weeks superseding the event, showing that when it comes to growth in the food and drink sector Bord Bia really mean business.

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RECIPES

Chocolate & Cheese Chocolate Philly Profiteroles with Strawberry Coulis Prep time 45 minutes – Cook time 20 minutes Serves: 8 portions Ingredients • 50g butter • 65g plain flour • 2 eggs, lightly beaten • 400g strawberries, hulled and halved • 25g icing sugar • 160g Philadelphia with Cadbury • 3 tbsp double cream Instructions • Heat the oven to 200c, gas mark 6 and have ready 2 dampened baking sheets.

• Put the butter and 150ml water in a saucepan. Heat gently until the fat has melted then bring to a rolling boil. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately tip the flour all at once into the hot liquid. Beat thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

• Continue beating until the mixture is smooth and forms a ball in the centre of the pan. Do not over beat at this stage. Leave to cool for just a couple of minutes. Then, beat in the eggs a little at a time, adding just enough to give a whipped cream consistency. Spoon walnut size spoonfuls onto the baking trays allowing room for spreading. Bake for 15-20 minutes until crisp. Make a slit in the side of each profiterole to release the steam and leave to cool on a wire rack.

• Meanwhile make the strawberry coulis. Put the strawberries and icing sugar in a processor or blender and blitz until smooth.

• Whisk together the Philly and cream until thick. Cut each of the profiteroles in half and sandwich together with some of the Philly mixture. Arrange in a pyramid in a serving bowl and just before serving pour over the strawberry coulis.

Philly’s tips • Try serving these profiteroles with a caramel sauce as opposed to a strawberry one. Simply mix 200ml of caramel condensed milk with some single cream to give a sauce consistency.

Philly Chocolate & Fruit Cheesecake Prep time 30 minutes – Serves: 12 Ingredients • 140g oaty biscuits, crushed • 30g low fat spread, melted • 400g Philadelphia with Cadbury • 250ml light crème fraiche • 8g powdered gelatine (about three-quarters of a sachet) dissolved in 60ml hot water • 250g mixed fruits i.e. redcurrants, blackcurrants, blueberries, raspberries lightly crushed or sliced strawberries Instructions • Mix the biscuit crumbs into the melted spread and press into the base of a 19cm loose bottomed cake tin. Put to chill whilst preparing the filling.

• Whisk the Philadelphia and crème fraiche together until smooth.

• Dissolve the gelatine in the hot water as instructed on the pack. Stir the gelatine into the Philly mixture. Pour the mixture over the cheesecake base and chill well until set.

• Once the cheesecake is set, arrange the fruits over the top of the cheesecake.

• Remove from the tin just before serving.

Philly’s tips • For a very quick topping alternative simply spoon some black cherry pie filling over the cheesecake just before serving.

• Stoned black cherry halves set in black cherry jelly also works as an excellent fruit topping for this cheesecake.

Philly Chocolate & Blueberry Topped Bagels Prep time 5 minutes – Serves: 2 portions Ingredients • 2 plain bagels cut in half • 60g Philadelphia with Cadbury • 40g fresh blueberries Instructions • Toast the bagels and whilst still warm spread with Philly. Scatter over the blueberries and serve immediately.

Philly’s tips • Also delicious with raspberries or sliced strawberries in place of the blueberries or a mixture of all three fruits.

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TOURISM

Jump into a new brand Ireland

Tourism Ireland has completed a year-long project aimed at revitalising Tourism Brand Ireland. Mark Henry, Central Marketing Director at the agency, outlines what was learned along the way and how the new “Jump Into Ireland” campaign is designed to deliver growth.

It was evident at the end of 2010 that something was adrift with Tourism Brand Ireland. We had held our share of our major markets up to that point as the global recession had taken hold but during 2010 we started to lose market share. What we were telling potential customers about the reasons to holiday here was no longer proving sufficiently compelling.

It was time for a roots-up reappraisal.

Our starting point was to understand the issues. Consumer research undertaken in our major overseas source markets identified three major underlying challenges facing us: (i) Ireland was not sufficiently differentiated from its key competitors - it was no longer clear to people how a holiday here would be different from that in any of our near neighbours, (ii) potential visitors lacked a clear idea of what they could see and do on an Ireland holiday - they simply could not envisage what they would do to fill their holiday time here, and 40

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Above & below: Tourism Ireland’s new campaign - ‘Jump into Ireland’ - is designed to convey a sense of playfulness and to reflect the immersive nature of a holiday here with iconic experiences and warm, friendly people.

(iii) the island was viewed as “olde world” and lacking vibrancy, so people felt no urgency to visit.

Tourism Brand Ireland clearly needed a powerful repositioning to overcome these significant barriers. We therefore engaged in the most comprehensive review of the brand undertaken for many years, underpinned by an extensive consumer research programme.

Talking to customers across our top four markets - Britain, the US, France and

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TOURISM

An Taoiseach Enda Kenny T.D. with Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, at the launched of Tourism Ireland’s new campaign in New York.

Germany - it was evident that the global recession was impacting on everyone.

Work pressures are on the up with a consequent increase in stress and anxiety. Work-life balance is suffering.

And what is being squeezed out of people’s lives are the moments of joy and wonder that remind us what it is to be truly human.

This has an impact on what people want from their holidays. Our target audience is sightseers and culture seekers - i.e. people who want to see the key sights of the places they visit but who also want to get a sense of the culture of the place. Our research showed that these individuals Mark Henry, central marketing director for increasingly seek authentic, stimulating Tourism Ireland. holiday experiences that give them back some of the joy that they lack in their normal working week.

But what more authentic and stimulating place is there than Ireland? A holiday here offers a diverse range of easily accessible experiences and the engagement with our people allows visitors to really immerse themselves in what makes Ireland unique.

When we tested this suggestion with our potential tourists, they agreed. The idea that visitors could really immerse themselves and get under the skin of the place was considered to be very credible, competitively distinctive and compelling.

We have found a sweet spot where our holiday offering precisely delivers what our target audience is now looking for.

Our new strapline “Jump into Ireland” is designed to express this new, vibrant idea of ‘joyful immersion’ to potential tourists. It is also itself a rallying call to act: get up off your seat and come to Ireland now!

In developing advertising to bring this to life, we also needed to convince visitors of the plentiful range of stimulating things to fill their holiday here. Despite what you

“ It was evident at the end of 2010 that something was adrift with Tourism Brand Ireland.

may think, overseas tourists’ knowledge of our attractions is quite limited. Besides the Giant’s Causeway and “the Guinness factory”, many potential tourists find it difficult to name specific attractions.

All the elements of our new campaign are therefore designed to highlight our island’s iconic experiences. From the Ring of Kerry and Rock of Cashel to Titanic Belfast and literary Dublin, through continuous investment over time we aim to fill the empty map of Ireland in our consumers’ minds.

We launched the new “Jump Into Ireland” campaign in January on TV in Britain and Germany. It goes live this month in the US, France and most of the rest of the world. We will spend about €15 million on the advertising campaign globally this year and that will enable us to reach 200 million consumers with the new message for Ireland.

When we benchmarked our new advertising against every other tourist campaign promoting holidays in these islands, consumers rated it highest in terms of destination stand-out and making them want to find out more.

At a time when competitive pressures have never been greater, I can confidently say that this repositioning of Tourism Brand Ireland delivers increased differentiation, presents a new vibrancy around Ireland and provides strong motivation to visit. We start 2012 confident that we are putting the best possible foot forward for our island.

You can view Tourism Ireland’s new campaign at www.youtube.com/discoverireland H&RT FEBRUARY/MARCH ‘12

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SEAFOOD AWARDS

BIM’s Seafood Circle endorses the best places to eat and buy seafood in 2012

15 seafood establishments win awards in excellence Ireland’s wealth of top class seafood restaurants and retail outlets received a ringing endorsement from Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), the Seafood Development Agency, recently as the BIM Seafood Circle 2012 Award winners and coveted membership places were announced. 219 Seafood Circle members for 2012 were listed in addition to Kish Fish of Smithfield, Dublin winning the Seafood Specialist of the Year Award, Scally’s SuperValu, Clonakilty winning Supermarket Seafood Counter of the Year and QC’s in Cahirciveen achieving Seafood Restaurant of the Year 2012.

The Seafood Circle was developed by BIM to support and champion retail and hospitality outlets that continually offer excellent quality seafood and service to their customers. The Seafood Circle plaque is presented to members on an annual basis and BIM encourage customers to seek outlets with this badge of honour in order to be assured of the best seafood available.

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Mr. Simon Coveney, T.D. congratulated all the members and award winners; ‘I would like to personally congratulate the 219 members and 15 award winners of the BIM Seafood Circle this year. It is testament to the dedication of each and every one of these businesses that despite the difficult economic climate, they are consistently improving what they do and achieving the exceptionally high standards set out under this initiative. I would encourage people to look out for the Tim Mason, Out of the Blue

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Andrew & Kate Cooke, QC’c Asghar Ali, Chef & Patricia O’Mahony, Head Chef, Mary Ann’s Bar & Restaurant

Seafood Circle plaque when buying seafood to support these local businesses’ The stringent criteria that need to be met in order to gain membership extend well beyond providing the customer with The Seafood Circle excellent seafood. Outlets also have to demonstrate to independent assessors plaque is presented to that they have superior knowledge of members on an annual their product offering, have excellent customer service skills and comply with basis and BIM encourage the strictest storage, handling and customers to seek outlets presentation requirements. with this badge of honour Donal Buckley, BIM’s Business Development and Innovation Manager in order to be assured of explains the rationale behind the the best seafood Seafood Circle Initiative; ‘The Seafood available Circle enables seafood retailers and hospitality businesses to constantly strive to offer their customers the best quality seafood available accompanied with

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SEAFOOD AWARDS

Award Winners Per Category Category

Award

Seafood Specialist

Seafood Specialist of the Year 2012 Best Display 2012 Best Customer Service 2012 Newcomer of the Year 2012 Innovation & Development Award 2012

Kish Fish, 40-42 Bow Street, Dublin 7 The Seafood Centre, The Docks, Galway The Fish Shop, Main St, Union Hall, Cork McAllister’s, 11 Village Centre, Lucan, Co Dublin Feeney’s Fish, 30 Barton Drive, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14

Supermarket Seafood Counter of the Year 2012 Best Display 2012 Best Customer Service 2012 Newcomer of the Year 2012

Scally’s Super Valu, Clonakilty, Co Cork Fleming’s SuperValu, Monaghan Town O’Toole’s SuperValu, Bishop St., Tuam, Co. Galway Nestor’s SuperValu, Oran Town Centre, Oranmore, Co. Galway Scally’s SuperValu, Clonakilty, Co. Cork

Supermarket Seafood Counter

Innovation & Development Award 2012 Hospitality

Seafood Restaurant of the Year 2012 Seafood Chef of the Year 2012

Best Customer Service 2012 Newcomer of the Year 2012 Most Informative Menu 2012

QC’s, 3 Main St., Cahirciveen. Co. Kerry Patricia O’Mahony, Mary Ann’s Bar & Restaurant Castletownsend, Skibbereen. Co. Cork Castle Murray House Hotel, St. John’s Point, Dunkineely, Co. Donegal Crazy Crab, Kilmore Quay, Co Wexford Out of the Blue, Waterside, Dingle, Co. Kerry

Fabrice Costes, Maitre d’Hotel & Kelly McCrudden, Reservations, Castle Murray House Hotel

Mike Crowley, Crazy Crab

knowledgeable customer service. We received a phenomenal amount of entries this year and this clearly demonstrates that Irish seafood businesses see the value of such a well established scheme. However, only the best establishments that meet the high standards of the Seafood Circle receive membership so congratulations to all the 2012 members and award winners on their high achievement’ For a full list of the BIM Seafood Circle 2012 members, please log on to www.seafoodcircle.ie or www.bim.ie. A full list of the BIM Seafood Circle Award Winners are listed in the table below.

Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), the Irish Sea Fisheries Board is the Irish State agency with responsibility for developing the Irish Sea Fishing and Aquaculture industries.

BIM provides commercially relevant and innovative services to the Irish seafood industry that drive growth opportunities, add value, enhance competitiveness and create jobs in a sustainable, natural resource based industry for the benefit of coastal communities. www.bim.ie

The stringent criteria that need to be met in order to gain membership extend well beyond providing the customer with excellent seafood.

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FUTURE TRENDS

In NAMA we trust?

The detrimental effect of heavy discounting in the hotel sector by so-called ‘NAMA hotels’ continues. Erica Svanstrom looks at how a more balanced, competitive market may emerge.

With increased overseas visitor numbers, strong domestic tourism and improved hotel occupancy rates, 2011 was in many ways an encouraging year for the hotel sector and the prospects for 2012 are optimistic.

According to Paul Gallagher, President of the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF), there is a “cautious optimism out there amongst the industry about the out-turn for 2012”.

But although the sector continues to regain its market share, there are still challenges ahead and concerns about the general state of the economy, and that of the hospitality industry, as well as the burden of local authority rates and the planned reintroduction of the JLC system, are still very much present.

While businesses continue to improve value for money, there is still concern among hoteliers about the impact of “low-priced competition” from NAMA and bank funded hotels as expressed in Fáilte Ireland’s September 2011 Tourism Barometer.

“The whole industry is concerned about the level of insolvency in the business,” says Mr Gallagher. “The level of exposure of hotel product to financial institutions is a huge concern for all of us in the industry, whether you are in a hotel supported by a financial institution or you are not.

“The concern amongst hoteliers is the inability to compete on the ground where there are large hotels and in some cases these hotels will enjoy the benefit of very substantial bank support and that manifests itself in a pricing point which is well below where the small traditional hotelier would be able to trade at,” he says.

“So what effectively happens is, the small hotels are having to discount to try to match the larger hotels and in doing so, all they are generating is cash flow but they are not generating any profit and while that is sustainable for a short period of time, long term small hotels and indeed the whole industry must reach a level at which it generates profit.

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The Sandhouse Hotel in Rossnowlagh, Co. Donegal, valued at in excess of €10 million during the boom, sold for circa €600,000

“If it does not do that, unfortunately what will happen is the fabric of the hotels will deteriorate, consumers will become less attracted to a product which is not in a good condition, which would further exacerbate then the performance of all of the hotel industry.”

According to Mr Gallagher, to be viable, hotels need to have a return on investment which is sufficient to meet the debt of the hotel while also providing funds for the hotel to operate and reinvest in the product.

For the IHF it is important to have close relationships with the main financial institutions that have hotel portfolios, such as Allied Irish Bank, Ulster and Certus, as well as with NAMA in order to “educate” them about hotel viability.

“In our negotiations and discussions In our negotiations with them we have always tried to educate the institutions about the and discussions with detrimental effect heavy discounting can [NAMA] we have always have in the hotel sector, not only tried to educate the amongst insolvent hotels but also the institutions about the risk to which that activity could further detrimental effect heavy put what I would call solvent hotels into difficulty and therefore you would have discounting can have in more insolvent hotels so there would be the hotel sector sort of a cross contamination.”

Although there are other institutions with a larger interest in the hotel industry, NAMA has received increasing media attention over its influence in the hotel sector and what many believe to be aggressive pricing strategies by the hotels which it supports.

With an estimated market value of €2.5 billion, hotels represent approximately 12% of the agency’s assets, however, according to NAMA spokesperson David Clerkin, the agency’s influence in the hotel industry is limited and NAMA shares the

“

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FUTURE TRENDS same concerns regarding pricing strategies as the rest of the sector.

“It is important to understand that the scale of NAMA’s interest in the Irish hotel market is very small and likely to be close to 10% of the market,” he says.

“NAMA is concerned that some hotels are being supported by institutions that are not participating in the NAMA scheme and are offering rooms at unsustainable rates.

This practice causes as much difficulty for hotels in which NAMA has an interest as it does for other hotel operators.”

Although it is not involved in the day-today management of hotels, NAMA only support hotels that can The recently-sold Morrison hotel demonstrate long-term viability based on a business plan agreed with the agency, whether involved directly with the hotel or through a receiver.

“NAMA has developed a comprehensive strategy to deal with the hotels that are within its portfolio,” says Mr Clerkin. “A key criterion in its assessment is the debt servicing capacity of each hotel relative to its income.”

“In cases where enforcement action has been taken in respect of a hotel property, responsibility for managing that property rests with the receiver. For properties which have not been the subject of enforcement action, NAMA has agreed detailed business plans with debtors, following a rigorous review of their pricing and occupancy projections.”

Frank Daly, Chairman, National Asset Management Agency

Brendan McDonagh, Chief Executive, National Asset Management Agency

In addition to hotel rates, there are also concerns in the industry regarding the excess capacity created by the entry of hotel products on the market over the last few years with no regard for the demand for such a product, which in turn impacts the prices at which hotels are sold on.

“I think the important thing for everybody in the sector is that the prices at which hotels are sold on are prices that the next owner is able to derive a business and a benefit from,” says Mr Gallagher.

“The last thing we would want to see where assets are being disposed of, is

where the next owner finds that they have trading difficulty, that they are unable to support the debt that they now have on these assets, and all of a sudden you have hotels coming on the market a second time.”

According to Mr Clerkin, NAMA has repeatedly stated that it is aware that excess capacity exists in the Irish hotel sector and that some hotels will not be viable.

“ NAMA is concerned that some hotels are being supported by institutions that are not participating in the NAMA scheme and are offering rooms at unsustainable rates.

“What is of interest to us is identifying whether individual hotels are capable of generating sufficient cash flows to service the debt associated with them,” he says.

“Alternative uses will need to be found for hotels that cannot achieve this.”

What the Irish hotel industry needs, according to Mr Gallagher, is entrance into the market by “hotel managers now in situ in Irish properties who wish to get on the property ladder and start to have a business themselves”.

However, due to the current economic climate, it is extremely difficult for these individuals to get hold of equity as banks are not in a position to fund such transactions.

“If they could, they would remove some of this stock from financial institutions’ grip and that would, I think, long-term restore a more balanced competitive market amongst hotels in Ireland where you would have like for like competing,” he says.

Irish hotel rates decreased sharply in 2009 and 2010, and although the latest Consumer Price Index showed that they continued to fall in the 12 months leading up to January 2012 (-3.1%), the rate at which they are dropping has slowed down.

“My read of the industry at the moment is that prices are starting to stabilise when it comes to room rates there has been a bit more pick up and certainly more buoyancy in Dublin”, says Mr Gallagher.

“That’s good news I believe for the rest of the country because Dublin is probably one of the first markets to start to emerge from the heavy declines of the last number of years and normally what would happen is that when Dublin recovers, the rest of the market will not be too far behind.

“I think we will see a trend in price increase, probably in the region of 4 to 5% per annum hopefully over the next 5 or 6 years.”

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TRAINING

A dog’s life

One thing you might not expect entering the bar of a four star hotel is a wet nose pressed against your trouser leg, but with business owners looking to maximise every opportunity to get visitors into their rooms, it seems welcoming our four legged friends into their establishments is capturing the attention, and euro, of that sizeable sector of society - the devoted dog lover.

At Lough Inagh Lodge in Connemara Maire O’Conor welcomes guests with dogs. Although she concedes it’s very much an individual decision for each hotel, they are blessed with the kind of countryside and beaches that dog walkers love to roam, so allowing guests to bring their pets makes a lot of sense. They see guests of all ages with all shapes and sizes of dogs. Although it’s just a portion of their business O’Connor says it is nothing but good for the hotel. “Dog owners tend to stay longer than one night. If you’re coming with your dog you tend to stay three, four to five nights which is an ideal business to have.” she explains. The atmosphere at the hotel she feels also benefits “it’s a great way of meeting other guests and it’s a great focal point of the night after dinner if there’s more than one couple staying with a dog.”

Deidre McGlone is proprietor of Harvey’s Point Hotel in Donegal, which has been welcoming guests with pets for twenty two 46

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years. It’s always formed a small part of their business and they would still see themselves as primarily a romantic destination for couples.

“We’re only now realising it’s a market in itself” says McGlone. “ We had about fourteen dogs here at Christmas, it just proves people see their dogs as part of the family.Before then it was ad hoc and whatever came, came, but we’ll be measuring things now and our feeling is there’ll be an increase in the pet business this year.”

McGlone is now beginning to experiment with specific promotions for the dog owner. “We just did a trial promotion with a company, PetMania which targets a very specific audience. It’s early days yet but that was definitely worth doing.”

Each hotel has obvious advantages that make it suitable for dogs. Lough Inagh for example has thirteen rooms, with the four on the ground floor the preferred location for dog owners, keeping one floor canine free.For a bigger operation, concedes O’Connor the presence of dozen of dogs might be a different matter altogether. Both hotels are set in countryside giving plenty of space for dogs to roam. At Lough Inagh dogs are allowed into all the public rooms with their owners, except when food is being served. At these times dogs are normally left in owners’ cars, or where the owner is quite confident in the dog, in the room, but there’s also a kennel or even a dog sitting service if needed.

Whether a hotel allows dogs or not is simply down to the owners’ discretion: there’s no additional hygiene or health and safety legislation to comply with obviously you won’t allow animals near the kitchen but you wouldn’t do that anyway. McGlone says the reality of keeping cleanliness and order is much simpler than people think. “Housekeeping is considered a big nightmare” she says “but it isn’t really - you’d have more mess after a wedding than looking after pets!”

O’Connor agrees when it comes to perception of animals in hotels, their bark is worse than their bite. “We’ve never had a bad incident. We’ve had one bad experience in a bedroom in twenty years. Nine times out of ten if dogs are with their owners they are quite content.”

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WINE

Gruner Veltliner - the next ‘small thing’ Could an obscure vine from eastern Europe be the ‘Next Big Thing’ for the New Zealand wine industry?

‘Well- maybe the next small thing’, says Matt Thompson , wine maker at Saint Claire Family Estate who visited Dublin in February.

He is among a small, but growing band of New Zealand wine producers who are experimenting with Gruner Veltliner, the signature grape of Austria, but which is also grown in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and more recently in Australia’s Adelaide Hills.

The New Zealand growers are attracted to the grape because it can be used to make food-friendly wine, with its citrus and peach flavours and spicy overtones. So far they have planted only around 30 hectares of the vine, 80% of which are to be found in Marlborough, but interest is growing all the time and some of the big time producers are keeping an eye on developments.

Introducing nine different expressions of NZ Gruner Veltliner, Matt Thompson said that the grape retains its European characteristics, although it tends to be more aromatic than its Austrian cousin. ‘It tends to perform best where water and nutrients are plentiful’, Matt Thompson said. In that respect it is similar to Sauvignon Blanc which has been highly successful in New Zealand.’

‘We conducted extensive research before planting and what consistently came through from the Austrians was that Grüner needed reasonable vigour because it is a nutrient and water hungry variety, like Sauvignon Blanc’, he added.

The wines tasted at the presentation spanned Marlborough, Gisborne and Nelson but did not include examples of plantings in Hawkes Bay or Otago.

‘The Paddler’ from Marlborough, which is available here through Liberty Wines, had excellent acidity and a nice peppery element and this was followed by ‘The Groover’ from Coopers Creek in Gisborne, which the first winery to commercially release a ‘Gru Vee’ in 2008 from vines acquired from a nursery four years earlier.

This is available from Musgraves. Seifried Gruner Veltliner 2011 from Nelson was elegant with prominent citrus flavours and is distributed in Ireland by Classic Drinks.

The final three wines were from Marlborough- Hans Herzog GV 2011 which is not available here, Yealands GV 2011, a cool climate expression with a distinctive saltiness distributed by Liberty Wines and finally Matt’s own Saint Clair Pioneer Block 5 GV 2011 which is available through Findlater Wine and Spirit Group.

Matt Thompson spoke of some issues relating to the making of Gruner Veltliner, notably the need for a very clean ferment and treating the thick-skinned grape carefully to avoid extracting phenolics.

It will be some time yet before New Zealand puts a major marketing drive behind Gruner Veltliner, but consumers are being advised to ‘watch this space.’

Barbara’s Best It was once again a joy to meet up with the formidable Barbara Lawson who was in Dublin for the New Zealand Wine Fair.

One of the great pioneers of Marlborough wine-making she and her late husband Ross developed Lawson’s Dry Hills into one of the most renowned of NZ wineries in terms of quality.

Barbara Lawson Bob, who was a High Country Musterer, a sheep shearer and a possum hunter before he turned to wine-making, passed away a few years ago and former nurse Barbara now runs the business with winemakers Marcus Wright and Rebecca Wiffen They made their first wines in 1993 from the 15 tonnes of grapes they grew that year and Ross managed the vintage from a shed in the yard. To-day their output is 700 tonnes which produce about 55,000 cases of wine which is made in a modern winery with automatically controlled refrigeration, an insulated barrel hall, a Delta crusher destemmer, hydraulic lifting bins and its own lab. They export 70% of production with the remainder sold on the domestic market.

Barbara and her team aim at achieving consistency with their wines in an area where viticulture dates back to only 1972. They grow Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir and the Gewurztraminer. Like other New Zealand

wineries Sauvignon Blanc is the flagship to-day and the 2011 has already won two gold awards in NZ. A 2009 Unoaked Chardonnay made from a low yield harvest had a lovely flavour of citrus fruits and Lawson Dry Hills Pinot Noir , which Barbara describes as ‘the best we ever made’ had a perfume of black cherries and spicy oak with soft tannins and mild acidity. An elegant and memorable wine.

Lawsons Dry Hills wines are distributed in Ireland by Febvre and Company.

What the Deutz ?

The Deutz Champagne House is unusual in that it was established in 1838 by two Germans, William Deutz and Pierre-Hubert Geldermann. Astute businessmen they handed a thriving business to their children and by 1882 Deutz had become a founding member of the all-powerful Syndicat des Grandes Marques. It has remained a family business, which over several generations, has bought up some of the prime vineyards in Champagne at Ogerr, Bisseuil, Pierry and its home village of Ay. Fabrice Rosset has been ceo since 1996 when the business was acquired by the Rouzaud family. He was born in Epernay in the heart of Champagne and is a manager rather than a winemaker, having worked for many years with Louis Roederer. Over the years he also developed his wine-tasting skills and to-day all Deutz blends are created under his supervision.

Fabrice was in Dublin for a tasting of Deutz Champagnes which are renowned for their traditional style and the inclusion of only classic wines in the blends.

‘We are obsessed with terroir’, he said.

‘Gerand Cru and Premier Cru grapes account for 80% of our blends’.

In creating the distinctive Deutz characteristics Fabrice never puts the wines in oak and often uses wines from a previous vintage. ‘But I do not like wines which are too old’, he said. The blends are complex however and might include more than 75 wines in various proportions. ‘Creating the blend is a long and slow process involving four people, which runs from January until April each year. We do not hurry when taking decisions.’

In addition to its own vineyard output Deutz buys grapes, juice and still wines from growers of more than 150ha of vineyard which is under contract to the company.

Deutz Champagne is packed in a longneck bottle which gives it recognition in restaurants and wine shops.

The wines tasted were Brut Classic,Blan de Blancs 2004, Amour de Deutz 1999, Cuvee William Deutz 1998, Brut Rose and Cuvee William Deutz Rose 1999.

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TOURISM

New horizons beckon again

Frank Corr looks to the new future for tourism

‘New Horizons’ was a seminal document in the history of Irish tourism. Published in September 2003 with all the pomp and confidence of the ‘Celtic Tiger’ era, it boldly set out a plan to double tourism numbers from 5 million to 10 million by 2012 and to grow revenue from €3bn. to €6bn. over the same period. It identified nine key ‘drivers’ of the industry and set out specific tasks for Departments and agencies whose policies impacted on tourism.

For the first four years, ‘New Horizons’ worked. Overseas visitor numbers rose to 7.7m. by 2007 and revenue climbed to €3.9bn. In addition the domestic tourism market was motoring along as Irish people added several ‘short breaks’ to their annual roster of holidays. Both Minister John O’ Donoghue and the Implementation Group which he established to oversee progress, could report that ‘New Horizons’ was on track to meet its ambitious goals.

Then it all went disastrously wrong.

Overseas visitor numbers fell slightly to 7.4m in 2008 and then nosedived to 6.5m in 2009 and 5.86m last year. The domestic market held steady as we took fewer ‘foreign’ holidays ourselves and spent what 48

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“

remained of the leisure money in Irish hotels. The upshot for the economy however was that revenue from overseas tourism fell by a whopping €1.2bn between 2007 and 2010 and that had a serious detrimental impact on our Budget deficit. Little wonder then that the Government would fret about the future of the industry and take measures to stimulate its return to growth.

This year brought signs that visitor and revenue figures may have ‘bottomed out’.

Best estimates are that visitor numbers in 2011 will show a 9% growth over This year brought signs 2010 with a similar increase in revenue. that visitor and revenue Buoyed by these figures the everfigures may have optimistic Tourism Ireland has produced a new plan which would see visitor ‘bottomed out’. Best numbers grow to back to 2007 levels by estimates are that visitor 2015 at which point they would be still numbers in 2011 will well short of the 10m. target set for 2012 in ‘New Horizons.’ show a 9% growth over This rate of growth would of course 2010 with a similar be most welcome in a country which increase in revenue. sorely needs the revenue and jobs which tourism can create. The issue however is just how realistic the new targets really are.

Ever before the ‘Crash of 2008’, the ‘High Level Implementation Group’ was pointing to’ barriers to progress’. They included concerns about the competitiveness and value for money of Ireland’s tourism product against a background of tight margins and enhanced competition, the need to restore growth from the British Market, and continuing uncertainty about access to the countryside. They also reiterated actions which were recommended in ‘New Horizons’ itself including Government action on tackling inflation, reducing insurance costs and lowering

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TOURISM indirect taxation, the need for better air and sea access and the benchmarking of Irish tourism prices against those of competitor destinations.

Most of these recommendations have yet to be implemented. Indeed it could be said that indirect taxation has increased as has excise duty on tobacco.

Insurance costs are going up rather than down and road building has virtually come to a standstill.

It is the unfolding scenario at home and in our key markets over the coming years which will however decree just how likely we are to achieve the new Tourism Ireland targets. On the domestic front the industry is certainly in a position to offer better value than in the past. Hotel room rates and restaurant prices have tumbled over the past three years and most businesses have become a lot more cost-aware and efficient. The lower rate of VAT Nobody knows yet just introduced earlier this year has been maintained for tourism services and this how effective ‘The will be a help, although visitors are also Gathering’ will be in likely to notice the new higher rate of attracting visitors, nor 23% when they buy gifts or souvenirs indeed its longer-term here. Our hotel stock remains fairly new prospects. It is however and modern, but with few hotels making a profit and many deeply in an innovative idea and debt, it is hard to see how they will be worth the support of able to invest in maintenance and everybody involved in refurbishment programmes which will Irish tourism. be needed within the next few years. It is also most uncertain that the current low room rates are sustainable in the longer term. Competition and reduced consumer spending have certainly forced rates downwards, but so have banks and NAMA who are supporting hotels on the basis that they are more valuable as going concerns than if they are closed. This situation is unlikely to last until 2015.

Looking outwards to our key markets, the forecast is also not too bright. The decision of Britain to opt out of the EU ‘euro Recovery Plan’ has created massive uncertainty about the future of the currency and the relationship between Britain and the other EU countries. It is yet too early to forecast what that outcome might be, but many economists are forecasting a downturn in the British economy, which would not be good for Irish tourism. There is also the strong possibility that relations between Britain and Europe may cool to close on freezing point, which may influence travel patterns for better or worse. Certainly we would have to hope that the warming of relations between Britain and Ireland following the visit of Queen Elizabeth this year will be maintained- but in the current European scenario, nothing looks certain.

Assuming that the euro is saved there is a good chance that the economies of Germany, France and Benelux will recover quickly and that opportunities will return for growing visitor numbers from these countries. Scandinavia also looks promising in the medium term. European airlines are showing a growing interest in developing

“

flights into Ireland and this, above all else, is likely to stimulate the market.

Our other key market in North America is also experiencing economic turmoil this year and predictions for 2012 are largely pessimistic. It is nevertheless an enormous market and with more airlines operating services from the USA to Ireland (including a new Aer Lingus service to San Francisco), we have a sporting chance of growing market share.

The new visa arrangements will make it relatively easier to attract visitors from ‘Developing Markets’ in Asia, but the numbers are yet too small for even substantial development of these markets to become significant.

Barring an economic implosion in Europe, the tourism industry should achieve further growth in the coming year.

Tourism Ireland has pointed to some high profile events which are in the pipeline including the conclusion of the Volvo Ocean Race in Galway next June, the Notre Dame v Army football game which is coming to the Aviva Stadium in Dublin and of course the Eucharistic Congress which could attract up to 20,000 high-spending Catholics to the capital.

The year will also see the launch of the marketing campaign for ‘The Gathering’ which takes place in 2013. Minister Leo Varadkar seems to have taken this project to heart and has already secured significant funding from the Department of Finance, which will be announced next St. Patrick’s Day. This novel idea seeks to persuade some of the 70 million people worldwide with Irish connections, to spend a holiday here. They will be offered a range of special events and a year-long festival that has echoes of ‘An Tostal’ in the 1950s. That particular tourism festival created a party atmosphere in a country which was severely depressed and suffering from economic stagnation and high levels of emigration. The parallel with the current state of the economy will not be lost on many. Nobody knows yet just how effective ‘The Gathering’ will be in attracting visitors, nor indeed its longer-term prospects. It is however an innovative idea and worth the support of everybody involved in Irish tourism.

Both Tourism Ireland and Failte Ireland will have to operate with trimmed budgets over the next few years, but the cuts have not been too drastic and it is likely that all existing programmes will continue to function. The organization of Failte Ireland has become more streamlined and it looks certain to take Dublin Tourism and the tourism activities of Shannon Development under its wing in the near future.

Overall then Irish tourism can look forward to 2012 with some confidence, but forecasting the longer-term future in an evolving Europe is hazardous indeed.

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AWARDS

A recipe for success

National Cocktail Champion, Chris Crowley, East Village Bar, Restaurant & Hotel, Douglas, Co. Cork

With 850 trade visitors, 220 competitors and supporters and 65 exhibitors, the inaugural Food & Bev Live has turned out to be a great success for the foodservice and hospitality industries. The event took place on Wed, 1st February at The Convention Centre, Citywest Hotel, Co. Dublin.

Adding to the excitement of the event was the staging of a series of national competitions where the cream of Irish talent working in these industries were eagerly chasing the winners’ positions and a chance to compete around the globe for their country.

With the cooperation of industries bodies The Panel of Chefs of Ireland, the Bartenders Association of Ireland and the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe the competitions that took place included The National Barista Championship as well as for titles such as The Young Chef of the Year, The Senior Chef of the Year, The National Cocktail Champion and The National Gastro Chef of the Year. The newly crowned winners will go on to compete for their country in places as far off as Vienna, Korea and Bejing.

With the awarding of titles taking place at the Champion of Champions dinner that evening the winners were as follows: 50

H&RT FEBRUARY/MARCH ‘12

National Barista Championship: Irish Barista Champion - Colin Harmon (3FE Coffee) Irish Latte Art Champion - Ruslan Mocharskyy (The Art of Coffee) Senior All Ireland Chef of The Year: Winner - Global Chef Alin Garvil (Executive Chef Google Ireland) and Mark McFadden (Commis Chef Abbey Tavern, Howth) Junior Hans Bueshkens Winner - Ryan Mc Givern and Simon Lehanne (students DIT Cathal Bruagh Street) Gastro Pub Chef of the Year Winner - Chad Byrne (Hilton Hotel Dublin) National Cocktail Champion: Chris Crowley (East Village Bar, Restaurant & Hotel, Douglas, Co. Cork) Fancy Cocktail Winner - Ariel Sanecki, (Cliff House Hotel, Ardmore, Waterford.)

After Dinner Cocktail Winner - Deirdre Byrne, (Mint Bar, Weston Hotel, Dublin1) Long Drink Cocktail Winner - Lukas Wojcik,( FxB Bar & Restaurant, Monkstown, Dublin) Event Organiser, Garret Buckley (MD, EventHaus), commented, “Our vision for the inaugural Food&Bev Live was to create a platform to support the finals of 5 National Foodservice Skills Competitions and in doing this call on the support of key Industry brands . We are delighted with the result and congratulate the worthy winners and wish them well as they travel to represent Ireland in their World skill final.”

Sean Martin, Sales Director with event sponsor Bunzl McLaughlin added, “Supporting this showcase of Foodservice talent is a pleasure for Bunzl McLaughlin however we are equally delighted with the Industry response to our first event which has acted as both a hub and a stimulus for our Industry to meet and move forward together in these challenging times.”

The trade exhibition featured more than 65 Foodservice Suppliers along with the Specialist Coffee Roasters Village, Chefs Choice @ FOOD+BEV LIVE. In addition the event featured a CMAI (Catering Managers Association of Ireland) Conference. www.foodandbev.ie

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