Údarás na Gaeltachta has launched a plan for tourism businesses to target the domestic staycation market in summer 2020.
Tourism trends are changing due to social distancing, and visitor experience in the near future may be more based on activities such as guided walks or cycles; visiting local historical sites, learning something new such as baking seaweed infused brown bread, playing the bodhrán or improving your Gaeilge.
In response, the Gaeltacht authority is running a series of online workshops across to assist the tourism sector to prepare for providing visitor experiences by Phase 4 of the reopening Ireland roadmap.
Online workshops for the Donegal region will take place from 10am – 12pm, Tuesday June 10th.
The tourism industry in the Gaeltacht has suffered significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the sector could be impacted well into 2021 and beyond until international visitor confidence in foreign travel has returned.
But the new approach from Údarás na Gaeltachta aims to take full advantage of the short window of opportunity that may arise this summer to attract domestic visitors to the Gaeltacht and to prepare for ‘the new tourism norm’ in 2021.
The series of online workshops being arranged will support Gaeltacht tourism providers in developing compelling visitor experiences for the domestic tourism market in 2020 with the aim of having these experiences available in the next 6 weeks in order to facilitate people when and if travel restrictions are lifted in Phase 4 of the reopening Ireland roadmap. These focussed learning sessions will also include follow on one-to-one mentoring from tourism experts and are aimed at hosts who have something interesting to share and who enjoy being with people and who will be able to adhere to the public health guidelines.
The online workshops will entail three 2-hour sessions, with workshops dedicated to particular Gaeltacht region.
After the session participants will have to complete an assignment fleshing out the details of their proposed project which will be followed up with a one-to-one online mentoring session to put the finishing touches to the experience and to upload it online.
The sessions will be bilingual and places are limited to 15 people per session with priority given to projects located in the Gaeltacht that can come onstream this season. To participate in the online sessions email saoire@udaras.ie for more details and to receive the appropriate application form. Applications must be submitted by Friday May 29th 2020.
Featured Photo: Paul Lindsay, Failte Ireland, Tourism Ireland
