Top operators from the world of online travel are arriving in Dublin today to meet with key Irish tourism businesses at Evolve Ireland in Croke Park, a Fáilte Ireland event tailored to improve online marketing. The operators include representatives from big players in the market such as Booking.com, Expedia and Lastminute.com. The European online tourism market continues to grow year on year and is expected to be worth over €126bn this year.

 

Research has highlighted that Ireland lags behind other markets in terms of fully exploiting digital sales strategies and indicated that knowledge of online platforms needed to improve.  In response, Fáilte Ireland has developed a suite of workshops focusing on the online travel industry to ensure that Irish tourism businesses fully realise their potential via online travel platforms.

 

Speaking in advance of the event, Paul Mockler, Head of Business Development with Fáilte Ireland, said –

 

“For the 21st Century traveller, if you’re not online then you’re not there. Fáilte Ireland believes that the tourism sector needs to embrace online sales platforms and ‘Evolve Ireland’ is a central part of our wider strategy to develop stronger relationships with online tour operators which will in turn help to sell Ireland internationally.”

 

Attending the event, Helen Maher from Expedia said -

 

“Expedia are delighted to attend the Fáilte Ireland Evolve Ireland 2016 Event. Events like this are so 

 important as they bring people from all corners of Ireland together, giving us the opportunity to meet with these accommodation providers to discuss ways for them to leverage their partnership with Expedia and to further increase their presence in the ever evolving online travel space.”

Evolve Ireland is the first in a series of events planned by the tourism authority during 2016.