9th Annual Tourism Policy Workshop

9th Annual Tourism Policy Workshop

23rd - 24th November 2018, Dromoland Castle

‘Understanding and Responding To The

Global Forces Determining the Future of

Tourism’

The Ninth Annual Tourism Policy Workshop brings together national and international experts to explore and formulate strategies to respond to the main factors shaping the conduct of international tourism. Key megatrends of shifting Demographics-Population Ageing, Artificial Intelligence/Robotics, Growing Urbanisation, Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility and the importance of New Markets will be the key workshop themes. Immediate concerns of Brexit, Global Trends in Aviation and the geopolitical turbulence affecting the conduct of commerce will be addressed by our national and international experts. The workshop is an initiative of the director of the National Centre for Tourism Policy Studies, Professor Jim Deegan, Department of Economics, University of Limerick.

www.tourismpolicyworkshop.wordpress.com

Tourism Policy Workshop

Programme

Friday 23rd November

16.00 Registration at Dromoland Castle

17.45 Welcome and Opening Address

18.00 Opening Address—Brendan Griffin, TD. Minister of State at the

Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.

Session 1

18:15 “Where Now For The Irish Economy? Opportunities,

Challenges and Longer Term Developments”

Professor Kieran McQuinn, Economic and Social Research Institute.

18:45 “Irish Tourism Policy For A Fast Changing World: Challenges and

Opportunities For Continued Growth”

Professor. Jim Deegan, UL.

19:15 Tourism Survival, Differentiation And Growth Through Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility— A Case Study From Leitrim

Joe Dolan, Managing Director, Bush Hotel.

19.45 Questions and Answers

20.00 Dinner— Earl of Thomand Restaurant

9.30 “Global Trends in Aviation”

Dr. Frankie O’Connell, University of Surrey

10.05 “How Dublin Airport is Adapting To A Changing World”

Vincent Harrison, Managing Director, Dublin Airport.

10.40 Questions and Answers

10.55 Coffee

Saturday 24th November

Session 2 Trends in Aviation

The Backdrop to Tourism Development

11.15 “Smarter Tourism For Smarter Growth”: How Ireland Can Harness

Technologically Enabled Innovation.”

Dr Mary Keeling, IBM

11.50 “ESB Dingle Project—A Smarter Network For a Brighter Future”

John Fitzgerald, ESB Networks

12.20 “Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility: The Case of The

Intercontinental Hotel, Madrid.”

Esteban Rodriquez, InterContinental Hotel , Madrid.

12.50 Questions & Answers

13.00 Session Ends

16.45 “A Demand Side Perspective: Testing Tourism Concepts.”

Caeman Wall, Head of Research, Failte Ireland.

17.10 “New Markets : Opportunities and Challenges”

Siobhan McManamy, Director of Markets, Tourism Ireland.

17.40 “Demographic change is a golden opportunity for Irish Tourism but are we ready?”

Paudie Healy, Founder and CEO, Universal Access.

18.10 “Transforming The Customer Experience in a Digital Led Economy”

Ian Golding, Customer Experience Specialist

Session 4

Session 3 Technological Change and the Tourism Marketplace

Session 5

18.45 “ The Ecosystem For Tourism Innovation and Entrepreneurship In Ireland”

Dr. Briga Hynes, Department of Management and Marketing, UL

19.15 “Tourism Policy— Department Perspective”

Maria Melia, Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport

19.45 Questions and Answers

20.00 Dinner—Earl of Thomand Restaurant

New Market Opportunities and the Customer Experience

Tourism Policy and Innovation

Speakers

Olivia O’Leary has presented television and radio programmes over the last three

decades for RTE, the BBC and ITV, and has been a political writer for the Irish Times and

the Sunday Tribune. She also presented the “Between Ourselves” discussion programme

for BBC Radio 4. Two collections of her political columns for RTE Radio 1’s ‘Drivetime’

pogramme have been published by O’Brien Press. Olivia presents the weekly Poetry

programme on RTE 1.

Prof. Jim Deegan Prof. Jim Deegan is an Economist and Professor of Tourism Policy at

the Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick. Jim is also Director of the National

Centre for Tourism Policy Studies which is Ireland’s leading research centre in all facets

of tourism policy. Over the last 20 years he has contributed research papers on many

facets of Irish tourism policy and has undertaken research reports for many national and

international agencies. Jim is a member of the editorial board of Tourism Economics and

regularly acts as an academic referee for the major journals in tourism. Jim has served

as a board member and chairman of various private and public sector companies that

included the National Tourism Development Authority. He is currently a non executive

director of the Birr Scientific and Heritage Foundation.

Prof. Kieran McQuinn is a Research Professor at the Economic and Social Research

Institute who works on the quarterly economic commentary (QEC) and housing related

projects. His research interests include house prices, economic growth and household

finance. He started his career in University College Cork and then joined Teagasc, the

Irish agriculture and food development authority, where he worked for over 5 years as

a research economist. Dr. McQuinn has a PhD in economics from NUI Maynooth.

Dr. McQuinn has published in a broad number of international and domestic journals

and is adjunct professor of economics at both Trinity College Dublin and University

College Cork. He is also a current council member of both the Economic and Social

Studies and the Economic and Social Research Institute.

Brendan Griffin is Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and

Sport with special responsibility for Tourism and Sport.

He is a TD for Kerry since 2011 and previously served as a member of Kerry County

Council representing the Dingle Electoral Area.

Brendan is married to Róisín and lives with their two sons on the foothills of the

Sliabh Mish Mountains on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry.

Dr. Mary Keeling is based in the UK and works with IBM's clients in all industries on

complex commercial and contractual constructs supporting large-scale transformation

projects to create sustainable business value. While at IBM's Institute for Business Value

she was a thought leader on ‘smarter cities’ and published several papers covering areas

such as transport, water, public safety, and education. Prior to IBM, Mary spent 10 years

as a lecturer in economics at the University of Limerick and has lectured at Trinity College

Dublin and Maynooth University. Mary is a former member of the World Economic

Forum’s Global Future Council for Cities.

Vincent Harrison has held the role of Managing Director of Dublin Airport since 2014.

Prior to this, he was Director Strategy, Regulation & B2B and has held senior financial roles

within Dublin Airport Authority. Vincent currently sits on the Board of Dublin Chamber of

Commerce and is a member of their Council. He has previously held senior financial and

management positions with Esat/B.T. in Ireland and with Rubbermaid In USA and in Europe.

Vincent is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland

Dr John Frankie O’Connell is currently a Reader in Air Transport at the University of Surrey.

He has been onsite with over 50 airlines around the world in both an advisory and training

capacity in the many multifaceted subject areas that pertain to air transport. He has published

numerous academic Journal papers, all of which are airline focused and are pivoted around

Airline Management, Strategy, Market analysis, Deregulation and Marketing. His latest book

entitled ‘Air Transport in the 21st Century’ has become a very popular manuscript in an

academic and commercial context. He has completed a PhD in Airline Strategy is a certified

IATA instructor a holds a pilot’s licence.

Joe Dolan, former President of the IHF. A native of Co. Leitrim, he is a second-generation

hotelier with over 25 years’ experience in the hotel sector. With his wife Rosie, he co-owns

and manages the Bush Hotel, located in the center of Carrick-on-Shannon. The Bush Hotel

is recognised for its commitment to environmental sustainability and, in 2009, was the first

hotel in Ireland and the UK to be awarded the European Union Eco Label. A graduate of

NUIG he also holds a PhD from Queen’s University Belfast and has worked extensively in

project management in the Middle East before returning to hospitality in Ireland.

Siobhan McManamy is Director of Markets for Tourism Ireland, responsible for

marketing the island of Ireland as a holiday destination in 23 markets across the world.

Previously, she was Tourism Ireland’s head of co-operative marketing, managing the

organisation’s programme of global marketing partnerships with airlines, ferry operators

and the commercial travel industry. Siobhan was responsible for the organisation’s

access development strategy when Tourism Ireland won the overall ‘World Routes

Marketing’ award. She also had responsibility for the organisation’s extensive overseas

publicity programme and for increasing industry engagement in marketing overseas.

Siobhan joined Tourism Ireland in 2002 and held senior management positions in

Mainland Europe.

Caeman Wall is Fáilte Ireland’s Head of Research. He leads a multi-disciplinary team

in resolving complex business challenges through evidence-based analysis and

collaborative approaches. Currently, he is working with his colleagues on shifting

Fáilte Ireland’s focus from mainly producing research reports to generating more

applicable insights and more joint working with internal teams, trade partners and

public sector stakeholders. Previous roles within Fáilte Ireland include Head of

Evaluations and Senior Economist. An experienced economist and qualified

accountant, he joined Fáilte Ireland in 2008 after spending almost ten years in

management consulting and three years as a lecturer in Queen’s University, Belfast

and Waterford IT.

Esteban Rodríguez has held the role of Chief Engineer of th InterContinental

Hotel in Madrid since 2004. Having graduated as a mechanical engineer from the

University of Caracas Venezuela, in 1989 he became Maintenance manager of

the Hotel InterContinnetall Madrid. Since then he has been chief engineer and

project manager on serveral hotel refurbishment projects for the

Intercontinental brand in Barcelona, Nicaragua, and Madrid.

John Fitzgerald graduated with an honours degree in Electrical and

Electronic Engineering from University College Cork in 2004.

He has since worked as an engineer with the Electricity Supply Board in

several key areas, namely Tender & Contract Management, Programme

Management, Project, Management and Enterprise Content Management.

Dr. Briga Hynes is a Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Head of Department of

Management and Marketing, University of Limerick. Briga has lead a number of large

scale international collaborative funding projects resulting in policy and practice

initiatives in areas of Digital Technology in SMEs, High Growth Small Firms and Female

Entrepreneurship. Briga works in an advisory capacity with organization’s such as Social

Entrepreneurs Ireland, Social Innovation Fund, THINKTECH a €1 million Tech for

Enterprises, Local Enterprise Office Limerick and the Citi Bank Upstart Entrepreneurship

Programme.

Ian Golding, is a Certified Customer Experience Professional and Customer Experience

Specialist, and spent 17 years working in a variety of corporate organisations, including The

Royal Bank of Scotland. In his last permanent role as Head of Group Customer Experience,

Ian developed and deployed the Customer Experience strategy for one of Europe’s largest

online retailers – Shop Direct. In 2012, he became an independent consultant, delivering

projects in the automotive, financial services, logistics and utilities industries. Ian was also

the first person in the world to be authorised by the CXPA to teach the Certified Customer

Experience Professional (CCXP) accreditation. In 2015, Ian became an Advisor and featured

columnist for CustomerThink. Ian’s first book was published in April 2018 – ‘Customer

What?’ The honest and practical guide to Customer Experience’.

Maria Melia is Principal Officer in the Tourism Marketing, Policy & Impact

Assessment division of the Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport. Maria is

responsible for overseeing the implementation of the objectives contained in the

Government’s Tourism Policy Statement – People Place & Policy - Growing Tourism to

2025 and associated Tourism Action Plans. Her unit is also responsible for the

development and implementation of the policy framework for overseas tourism

marketing.

Paudie Healy is the founder and CEO of Universal Access, an International

accessibility expert delivering high-level consultancy in Ireland and Europe through

the principles of Universal Design to the public sector, NGO’s and the private sector.

He is a leading expert in creating and developing national, regional, city and

town, ‘Tourism For All strategies’, management and implementation; also in

developing end-to-end accessible services in IT and Information/Marketing

Provision, Transport, Facility Management, Infrastructure, Built Environment,

Services and Training programmes. He works with both SMEs and larger private

businesses on accessibility and inclusion, and sits as an expert on several National

and international boards.

Ninth Annual Tourism Policy

Workshop November 23rd - 24th

Dromoland Castle 2018

‘Understanding and Responding To The

Global Forces Determining the Future of

Tourism

www.tourismpolicyworkshop.wordpress.com