New campaign to raise expectations of Irish food
A recent survey revealed that holidaymakers associate beer and potatoes with Ireland and that expectations of food are low before coming to Ireland.
When leaving our beautiful island, visitors say that their expectations have been exceeded. Fáilte Ireland is now starting a massive marketing campaign, showcasing the wonderful food experiences for visitors – domestic as well as international.
We need to get the message out when people are planning their journey, before they are actually in the country.
The campaign is called Taste the Island and focuses this year on the period September to November, extending the tourist season and is built on five pillars: Taste of Place, Meet the Maker, Make it Yourself, Trails and Networks and Festivals and Events.
Currently, the food tourism team at Fáilte Ireland are holding workshops across the country inviting the food and hospitality industry to join in the campaign with their own events, creating a nationwide (and indeed Northern Ireland is included) programme to entice visitors to choose the period between September and November to travel to Ireland.
What makes this unique is that Fáilte Ireland is engaging with domestic businesses to create this food tourism campaign, to be part of the journey.
The workshops are designed to share ideas, generate new plans and combine forces with other food offering companies. From all the meetings, workshops and programs Fáilte Ireland I attended in the past, this round is different as it focuses on one message for the entire country and encourages stakeholders to engage with Fáilte Ireland by submitting ideas and create food experiences.
Ireland has a rich bounty of wonderful produce, is steeped in history and has a story – now we are going to tell this story to the world and inviting the world to come and Taste the Island.
Check out failteireland.ie/tastetheisland for upcoming events and keep an eye out for the upcoming marketing campaign, including TV, radio and press.
The Cork workshop was held in The River Lee Hotel and Pól O’Conghaile, travel writer for the Irish Independent, facilitated the event and spoke about his own food experiences abroad. He brought us along his journey, showing us how food becomes part of your journey when the story behind is shared.
Let’s make Cork the best food experience we can offer our visitors – after all, Cork is the food capital of Ireland.