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Paul Mockler, Head of Commercial Development at Fáilte Ireland, presented the audience with a comprehensive report on the ‘Digital that Delivers’ strategy. Fáilte Ireland is the national tourism board for Ireland. They work with travel agencies and tour operators and encourage a front and centre approach to online experiences and presence. Accordingly, Fáilte Ireland’s ‘Digital that Delivers’ strategy supports the digital transformation of destinations. The strategy was outlined four years ago and has been implemented for a year.

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Paul began by addressing recent research outcomes, which led to the development of the ‘Digital that Delivers’ programme. Connected bookings can transform Ireland’s tourism. He referred to the fact that only 13% of the Irish experiences use online platforms as a market failure which needed to be addressed. In Ireland, websites perform poorer compared to the EU in terms of functionality, usability and design.

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In response to the research outcomes, the Digital that Delivers programme intends to help the Irish tourism industry compete in the international market, allowing destinations to operate more efficiently and cross-sell each others’ products and services.

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Paul referred to the Digital that Delivers strategy as a destination-first approach. It contributes to tourism experiences at different milestones mainly focused on consumers’ path to purchase. It intends to trigger travellers’ inspiration for decision making, bookings, inspirations for activities on holidays and any other purchases while travelling.

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Paul outlines the Digital that Delivers vision as:

1. Enable consumers to discover & book experiences, accommodation through convenient channels.
2. Help the Irish industry to recover from Covid impact and operate efficiently in a sustainable fashion.

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Digital that Delivers has a modular approach focused on scale and speed. It promotes developing bookable products, enhances websites, generates money, attracts visitors, and builds industry capabilities. The assessment strategy for ‘Digital that Delivers’ reflects a range of strategies from experience developments to connected distribution and optimising analytics & reporting capabilities. It identifies gaps common in the industry, provides businesses with transformation roadmaps, and offers grant schemes.

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The anticipated outcomes of the programme include:

1. Equipping businesses with tools for direct bookings
2. Fully integrate 3rd parties, including travel operators & aggregations
3. Facilitate operational efficiency
4. Facilitate the ability to target consumers at key stages on their path to purchase
5. Provide world-class access content
6. Equip businesses with the ability to assess and optimise digital channels’ performances

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The programme is implemented at a large scale with 1426 visitor experiences audited and mapped, 290 industries registered, and 737 interventions to be delivered in 2021. The project is in partnership with many sectors.

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To conclude, Paul mentioned that the project has become possible with the government’s support, available budget and recruitment. It has received positive feedback from the industry. The work is staggered across four regions. The prospect is that the project creates a central repository for industries to leverage data produced in future.