Galway’s Galmont Hotel & Spa was recently certified by Fáilte Ireland as a key tourism business for catering to the growing number of Chinese visitors.
Fáilte Ireland has been working with businesses in the tourism sector to capitalise on a surge in visitors from China by training them on how to meet their specific needs.
According to Fáilte Ireland, Chinese tourists are different to many traditional holidaymakers and offering the right kind of service is crucial to success in this market.
The Get China Ready Programme is an initiative which provides tourism businesses with insights into the Chinese visitor and how to meet their cultural service and culinary needs, as well as in-depth knowledge on Routes to Market to support businesses to win business from the Chinese market.
It was developed in partnership with Tourism Ireland and Tourism Northern Ireland and jointly delivered by Fáilte Ireland with the support of the Centre for Competitiveness, the licensed provider of COTRI (China Outbound Tourism Research Institute) programmes in Ireland.
The Galmont was one of eight businesses recently awarded their COTRI Certification Award after successfully completing the programme.
The others were the Knightsbrook Hotel, Meath; Causey Farm, Meath; Dublin hotels The Sandymount Hotel and the Temple Bar Hotel; Carton House in Kildare; The Savoy Hotel, Limerick; and Hastings Grand Central Hotel in Belfast.
With many uncertainties in the future of the tourism industry, especially with the specter of Brexit on the horizon, Fáilte Ireland is encouraging businesses in the sector to diversify, with a focus on China as the biggest outbound tourism market in the world.
Presenting the Awards, Paul Keeley, Director of Commercial Development at Fáilte Ireland, said that the number of yearly outbound tourists from China is expected to reach 200 million by 2020.
“New direct flights from Beijing, Hong Kong and more recently Shenzhen to Dublin offer an excellent opportunity for Irish tourism businesses to attract more visitors from the Chinese market.
“The aim of Fáilte Ireland’s Get China Ready Programme is to ensure that the Chinese visitor is warmly welcomed to Ireland and that tourism businesses are prepared and culturally aware of the requirements of our Chinese visitors.”
Over 350 tourism businesses have been supported by Fáilte Ireland with an introductory level programme to understand the cultural needs of the Chinese visitor so far.
While over 40 businesses have now invested in this in-depth programme to Get China Ready, of which the Galmont is one.
photo credit: Galmont Hotel
