The document discusses the potential and challenges of natural resource tourism (NRT) in Northern Ireland, emphasizing the importance of product development, marketing, and partnerships. It highlights existing tourism trends, visitor demographics, and the need for SMEs to adapt to changing consumer expectations and technology. To succeed, a cohesive multi-agency approach and collaboration among stakeholders are essential for sustainable tourism growth.

1. Exploring the potential for
Natural Resource Tourism
Kieran Swail,
GTT Consultancy
Natural Resource Tourism &
Local Development Conference,
Ballyronan.
9th November 2005
www.gttconsultancy.co.uk

2. Overview
NRT Clarification
Tourism Trends
Tourism today in Northern Ireland
Opportunities – Product Dev &
Marketing
New Tools
Partnership no longer a choice!

3. Recent Projects
GTT Client Portfolio TTC Projects 04 – 05
Whos Cooking Business Plan Sati
Take The Family Erne Canal Study
Malone House Free Famagusta (Cyprus)
Belfast Castle Tourism Strategy
Newry Institute of Fhe Ireland World Rally
Academy of Travel Championships 2007
TTC International NITB Short Breaks A. Plan
Iron Donkey Cycle Tours Maiden City Festival
Irish Sea Cruises Foyle Events Company
Cameron Cavendish Wines Newry & Mourne /Armagh
Product Dev Study
Cumbria Equine Tourism
Study

4. NRT Clarification
Natural Resource Tourism represents a host of
opportunities 30 Activities listed on the CAAN site
Also includes
Rural Tourism People
Farm, Green, Eco, Agri-tourism
Cultural Tourism Place Product
Events Tourism
Sports Tourism
Health Tourism NRT core branded product & competitively
positioned in the following destinations
Food Tourism
Wales- www.adventure.visitwales.com
Educational Tourism
Aberdeen & Grampians-
Heritage Tourism www.castlesandwhisky.com
Film Tourism…… Iceland Discoveries – www.iectourist.is
Switzerland Experiences –
Simple Definition: The promotion and www.myswitzerland.com
packaging of the natural resource base Active Orkney -
for tourism and recreation use. www.visitorkney.com/active.html
Austria You’ve arrived! – www.austria.info

5. In search of the Pamper Experience
P
Personalised
A Added Value
M Memorable
P Positive
E Exciting
R Relaxing
Visitors now have sophisticated needs and
high expectations and increasingly are
choosing their holiday on “perceived added
value”.

6. Tourism Trends V Marketing Challenges
1.Who are your
target markets?
2.Who are your
competitors?
3.How do you get
visitors to come to
Northern Ireland?
The world has literally shrunk for the tourist!
“Tourists are taking more control of the holiday booking
process and tailoring trips to individual preferences.
Ireland is uniquely placed to offer this kind of holiday
experience” Irish Times 21 Oct 05

7. Natural Resource Tourism Image v Reality
“In many cases it is probably the image more than
the factual information that produces a tourist
destination to travel” (La Page & Cormier 1977)
Challenge - How do you ensure visitors
expectations are met or surpassed? Can you
measure this?

8. Purchase Funnel
Active
Interest Intent Planning Purchase Loyalty
Intend to go
Holiday-
on holiday to
Intend to go makers
NI at Holiday -
on holiday to who are
sometime Makers who
NI in re-visiting
in future have
next 2-3 NI
bought a
years Intend to go holiday to NI
To NI in
next 12 months
Challenge - How do you move your visitors along the
Purchase Funnel from lookers-to-bookers?

9. NI Visitor Performance 2004
2004 2003 % +/-
Total Visits 2,093,000 2,013,000 +4
Domestic
Holiday/leisure
405,000 365,000 +11 Tourism
Recreation/Visits
Visits down
by 13% -
Visitor Nights 8,754,000 9,071,000 -3 opportunity?
+7(real
Visitor Spend £325m £297m
terms)
Comment: NI enjoyed significant tourism growth in
2004 compared to average 2% growth in Europe
Note: 7.7 million people visited the Island of
Ireland in 2004, an increase of over 3% on
2003. Tourism Ireland Oct 05

10. NITB Targets 2005 - 08
+ out-of-state visitor spend by 8.5%
+ domestic holiday spend by 6.5%
+ NI’s share of all-island visitors by 1% each year
Immediate return segments:
• Sightseers and Culturalists:
GB, USA, Canada, Australia, France
• Couples: NI, ROI
• Empty Nesters: NI, ROI
• Families: NI, ROI
• Business: ROI,GB, USA, Canada
Comment: Strategic focus on close to home market
segments

11. Product Gaps
Family Friendly facilities – leisure, crèche and
children’s clubs
Limited availability of consumer data to make
informed tactical decisions on marketing and
product development
Low market profile offline and online in comparison
to ROI
Relative absence of product linkages
Development of routes & trails as a ‘magnet’ for
visitors
Absence of destination branding and quality
accreditation schemes

12. Hurdles for tourism SMEs
•Funding applications
•Skills gap – how to market
products
•Sense of isolation post business
start-up phase –
•Suitably qualified staff
•E-Commerce facilities -
Merchant accounts
•Lack of cohesive multi-agency
approach to planning and
development of small scale
tourism projects

13. Solutions
•Tourism Advice Hub - Tourism4Me
(www.tourism4me.com)
•Opportunities for new Regional Tourism Partnerships
•Training – Need to be flexible, focus on Mentoring and
Coaching. Examples:
•TWIGS Initiative - www.twigs.ie
•Scot Exchange Network Tourism Training
www.scotexchange.net
“E-Marketing Toolkits, Familiarisation visits, and
customised marketing partnerships are valued by
Tourism SMEs” Canadian Tourism Commission Feb
2005

14. Time to get online!
In the UK there were 27
million people online in
2004. Online travel sales in
the UK up 40% on 2003!
"The Internet has become a vital and unique medium in
the battle to stay competitive in the international tourism
sector" J Byrne, Tourism Ireland, Sep 2005

15. Develop the potential of NRT through E-
Marketing - Measure through Web Analytics
4
4
Websites Ezines
Emails Ebrochures Tourism
SMEs
IDTV Pay Per Click
Mobile Phones Blogs
PDAs Viral Marketing
See: www.webtrends.com

16. From Marketing to Sales - How
to Bridge the Gap?
Marketing now a
dynamic activity
Listening and building
lasting relationships
Tactical Activities
Segmentation
Reward “the connectors”
Apply the P2M rule
Get online!

17. P2M -How do you get your
NRT product to market?
Challenge: How to acquire customers with
limited resources?

18. Traditional Tier 1 NRT Products
Golfing
Fishing
Walking
Cycling

19. Niche NRT products now more popular
“Ireland has everything needed to be a coldwater
surfing paradise. Ireland has some of the best
surfing conditions anywhere on the planet outside of
Hawaii” Irish Times 21 Oct 2005

20. Health tourism, spas and relaxation
Women go to spas
to be fussed over
for hours on end,
with the goal of a
healthier tone to
their skin. Men go
with the hope of a
quick fix for muscle
pain.
Growing market segment
“Spa goers feel fitter, more confident and happier
with their body image, than those who choose a more
traditional type of holiday” Irish Times 21 Oct 05

21. Food Tourism Emerging Niche
More discerning travellers
Focus on authenticity & origin
Cookery Schools
Farmers’ Markets
Food & Drink Trails
Food Tourism Destination Branding
‘Flavour of Tyrone’, ‘Meath Good Food
Circle’ ‘Fuschia Brand West Cork’
“ Food that is expressive of a region and its culture can be
used as a means of differentiation for a destination in an
increasingly competitive global marketplace” (Hall:1993)

22. Find your niche and focus
Singles holidays
Single parent family holidays
Less abled / disabled travellers
Holidays for animal owners
Your product, Your location, Your Quality,
Your Service, Your target market, Your
distribution channel e.g. website or
ebrochure - YOU!!
Ask your customers what they think of
their experience - invaluable
The Shannon Region in Ireland has launched 5 digital
ebrochure for angling, touring, horse riding, golf and
walking www.shannonregiontourism.ie

23. CRM – Keep it simple!
Make good friends with
customers!

24. Novel idea to promote natural resources
- www.foodskool.ie

25. Interactive Map of South Belfast
www.visitsouthbelfast.com

26. Destination Perspective - Leadership,
partnership, ownership!
“Tourism does not function in a vacuum”
(Mintza & Pappadopolus 1985)
How can the objectives of developing
and marketing natural resource
tourism opportunities be best met
and balanced with the needs of small
communities, individual businesses
and regional bodies within the
region?
Simple! Only an integrated, multi-
A agency approach will work -
facilitated by partners, BUT co-
ordinated locally.
Partnership represents a more complex way of
doing business moving from competition to
cooperation to collaboration and the task is not an
easy one.

27. Business Perspective -Partnership is the key
to sustainability and success
Challenge: Embrace or reject partnership?
Co-operation and clusters key to competitiveness
– product linkages.
Erne Canal Charter Boat Association (www.boat-
holidays.info)
Equestrian Holidays Ireland (www.ehi.ie)
Health Farms of Ireland
(www.healthfarmsofireland.com)
Horse Holidays in Cumbria –
www.horseholidaysincumbria.co.uk
Comment: In regions where niche tourism has
worked – partnership, networking, collaboration
and innovation abound

28. So why do clusters work?
Form value chain built on linkages and
interdependencies among players
Achieve synergy and economic advantage in terms
of market entry, access and penetration
Shopping analogy
Booktowns Concept (www.booktown.net)
Gourmet Towns (www.cork-guide.ie/kinsale/gourmet.html)

29. Potential for Natural Resource Tourism
– now the reality check!
NI is an ideal environment for developing
compelling NRT product offerings
NI tangible evidence of visitor growth –
plans for sustainable marketing and
product development
Need for real help to find ‘best fit’ for
bringing product-to-market
Political will & inertia V vision & leadership

30. Honestly - this is the end!
•Remember PAMPER
•Think Niche Product, Segment, Location
•Keep in touch with your customers
•Focus on technology - it works!
•Apply P2M to your ideas
•Embrace partnership & Network
A final thought: “ A Place’s image must be valid
in many ways through several channels if it is
to succeed and take route” (Kotler 1993)