‘Landmark’ online booking levels for Ireland

Online tourism reservations to Ireland exceeded bookings from all other sources combined for the first time last year, according to latest figures. 

Irish tourism information and reservation services provider Gulliver Ireland described 2005 as “a landmark year” in the transfer of tourism bookings to the online environment.

Almost 76,000 bookings were made over the internet, accounting for nearly 59% of all tourism bookings valued at €15.5 million. In 2000, only 5% of Gulliver bookings were made online.

Gulliver said the “staggering growth” in internet bookings has had significant consequences for the tourism industry and how it does business. The dramatic jump in online bookings, from a standing start to almost 60% in six years, has resulted in an accompanying fall-off in tourist information office and call centre-generated bookings. 

Gulliver Ireland managing director Stewart Stephens called on Ireland’s new €5 million regional tourism fund to be used to create an effective online marketing infrastructure for promoting tourism regions and sectors.

Total Gulliver bookings were valued at almost €25 million, a 16% year-on-year increase in total booking volume, representing almost 320,000 tourists. Almost 720,000 bed nights were sold.

The growth in like-for-like online Gulliver bookings was 61%. The company said the rise was epitomised by an “excellent performance” by GoIreland.com, the most booked Gulliver-powered website last year. It processed almost 33,000 bookings, up 63% on 2004, and valued at more than €6.3 million. During the peak season, GoIreland.com averaged more than 50,000 unique visitors and 1,000 bookings a week.

All regions in Ireland benefited from increased GoIreland.com bookings last year. The South West grew by 90%, Shannon by 72% and the West by 70%. Strong increases in the South East (64%), North West (51%) and Midlands East (44%) were also recorded.

Gulliver, part of the FEXCO AllTravel group, said strong regional bookings characterised last year’s performance where the regions benefited from solid bookings growth. This was achieved by implementing a focused online marketing strategy, with little or no spend on traditional marketing, the company said.

The top 10 booked Irish counties were Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Cork, Clare, Mayo, Kilkenny, Waterford, Limerick and Donegal. Booking growth of more than 50% was recorded in Cork, Limerick, Westmeath, Cavan and Monaghan.

Bookings from the Irish domestic market grew by 110% with domestic tourists accounting for more bookings than any nationality. Bookings from the UK were second highest, an increase of 53%, while US bookings came in at third place, growing 17%. Australia and Canada were in fourth and fifth places respectively, followed by France, Germany, Italy, Holland and Spain.

Report by Phil Davies