HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Fáilte Ireland is the operating name of the National Tourism Development Authority of
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. This authority was established under the National Tourism Development Authority Act of 2003 to replace and build upon the functions of Bord Fáilte, its predecessor organisation.National Tourism Development Authority Act 2003, Sections 37–38 The organisation was established to support the development and promotion of tourism within Ireland, and it undertakes tourism marketing, training and research activities.


Name

The
legal name A legal name is the name that identifies a person for legal, administrative and other official purposes. A person's legal birth name generally is the name of the person that was given for the purpose of registration of the birth and which then ...
of the body is the National Tourism Development Authority, according to the National Tourism Development Authority Act 2003 which established it.National Tourism Development Authority Act 2003, Section 7 The 2003 act also empowers the body to use the trading name of Fáilte Ireland. The word ''fáilte'' is Irish for "welcome". In official
Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...
texts the form Fáilte Éireann has been used.


History

After the foundation of the
Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...
in December 1922, hoteliers and others created local tourism boards in various regions, which combined in 1924 into the Irish Tourist Association (ITA), a private organisation "promoting tourism to the benefit of the nation". (An earlier, unionist-led, ITA had existed from 1895 to 1921.) ITA lobbying led to the Irish Tourist Board being established under the Tourist Traffic Act 1939. While the outbreak of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
delayed the implementation of some elements of the 1939 act, a series of surveys, the ''Irish Tourist Association Topographical and General Survey'', were undertaken in the early 1940s. The organisation was renamed again, to An Bord Fáilte, by the Tourist Traffic Act 1952. The same act created a separate body, Fógra Fáilte, to handle publicity. The Tourist Traffic Act 1955 remerged the two as Bord Fáilte Éireann (BFÉ or "Bord Fáilte"). An Tóstal, a summer cultural festival held from 1953 to 1959, took up the bulk of the authority's work in this period. In 1963, the Council of Education, Recruitment and Training (CERT) was created to take over training of workers in the
hospitality industry The hospitality industry is a broad category of fields within the service industry that includes lodging, food and beverage services, event planning, theme parks, travel agency, tourism, hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, and bars. Sector ...
. In 1964, eight regional tourist organisations (RTOs) were established which were intended to supersede the ITA; an
extraordinary general meeting An extraordinary general meeting, commonly abbreviated as EGM, is a meeting of members of an organisation, shareholders of a company, or employees of an official body that occurs at an irregular time.' The term is usually used where the group wo ...
called in 1964 to dissolve the ITA voted not to do so, but it nevertheless soon became defunct.Zuelow 2009, p.85 The RTOs reduced in number to six in the 1980s, and were renamed regional tourist associations (RTAs) in 1996. In 1989 the Dublin RTO lost a High Court action to prevent BFÉ dissolving it; it was reconstituted as ''Dublin Tourism'' and more closely controlled by BFÉ. In 2003, CERT and BFÉ merged to form Fáilte Ireland, to better co-ordinate with Tourism Ireland, the all-
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
body established under the
Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement ( or ; or ) is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April (Good Friday) 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland since the la ...
(GFA). The advent of
travel website A travel website is a website that provides travel reviews, trip fares, or a combination of both. Over 1.5 billion people book travel per year, 70% of which is done online. Categories Categories of travel websites include: ;Travelogues and blo ...
s reduced the usefulness of the RTAs and a 2005
PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alon ...
report recommended substantial reorganisation; as a consequence all were dissolved in 2006, except Dublin Tourism, which was made a direct subsidiary of Fáilte Ireland. Dublin Tourism's separate status ended in 2012 in line with a 2011 report by Grant Thornton. Fáilte Ireland played a leading role in The Gathering Ireland 2013, a year-long programme of events encouraging members of the
Irish diaspora The Irish diaspora () refers to ethnic Irish people and their descendants who live outside the island of Ireland. The phenomenon of migration from Ireland is recorded since the Early Middle Ages,Flechner, Roy; Meeder, Sven (2017). The Irish ...
to visit their region of origin.


Activities

The goal of Fáilte Ireland is to provide strategic and practical support in the "long-term sustainable growth in the economic, social, cultural and environmental contribution of tourism to Ireland". Fáilte Ireland works with
tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...
interests to support the industry in
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
in its efforts to be "more profitable and to help individual tourist enterprises enhance their performance". Its activities fall into four areas: *Tourism marketing: provides marketing support and a range of promotional opportunities for Irish product providers, marketing groups, tour operators, handling agents, and other tourism interests as well as visitor services to consumers. Fáilte Ireland's "Festivals and Cultural Events Initiative" and "Sports Tourism Initiative" fall under this heading. *Training services: provides education and advice for people working in the tourism industry. Fáilte Ireland has previously run campaigns to encourage and support young people in choosing a career in the tourism sector. *Product development: provides support for selective capital investment in tourism products through grant-aid and tax incentive schemes and encourages new products and areas of service. *Research and statistics: provides overviews of tourism performance and profiles tourism development to provide a knowledge base to guide industry development and services.


Management team

On 15 August 2020, the Chairman of Fáilte Ireland, Michael Cawley, resigned after it emerged he travelled to
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
on holiday during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
; his decision to holiday abroad had sparked controversy and criticism as it coincided with a campaign from Fáilte Ireland urging holidaymakers to engage in
staycation A staycation (a portmanteau of "stay" and "vacation") is a recreational break spent at home or within a both-ways day's trip distance of it, requiring no overnight accommodation. In the UK, the term has increasingly also come to encompass domes ...
s.


Tourism regions

Fáilte Ireland has identified and markets several tourism regions, including The Wild Atlantic Way,
Ireland's Ancient East Ireland's Ancient East () is a destination marketing brand representing the east coast, and parts of the midlands and south coasts, of Ireland. Unlike the Wild Atlantic Way, the region's tourism trail doesn't have a set driving route, and inste ...
, and Ireland's Hidden Heartlands. Dublin Tourism, a somewhat antonymous regional tourism authority, was formerly responsible for promoting tourism in the
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
region. It merged into Fáilte Ireland in 2012.


See also

*
Northern Ireland Tourist Board Tourism Northern Ireland, also known as Tourism NI, is a non-departmental public body of the Department for the Economy. Its primary objective is to promote Northern Ireland as a tourist destination to domestic tourists, from within Northern Ire ...


References


Sources

* * * * * *


Citations


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Failte Ireland Tourism in the Republic of Ireland Government agencies of the Republic of Ireland Tourism in Ireland Tourism agencies 2003 establishments in Ireland Organizations established in 2003 Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment