Arthur’s Day: not a black and white issue

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Industry Relations, MCI A Black and White Issue? The furore around Arthur’s Day now stretches from domestic dining tables to the snugs of public houses, from office canteens to staff rooms in schools, from the letters pages of the broadsheets to the screaming headlines of the tabloids. It’s all over… Read more »

Vienna Reviewed and New Luxury at Ritz Carlton

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Ovation Global DMC Looking after No 1 Mercer Consulting, the consulting firm, conducts an annual survey which ranks cities according to a range of criteria. Vienna is in top position. Simon Anholt also publishes an in-depth annual survey tracking the image and reputation of cities and Vienna constantly ranks in… Read more »

The Nature/Nurture debate and Brands: lessons from Paris

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Industry Relations, MCI and Vice President, Destination Services, Ovation Global DMC Paris has featured, like bookends, at either end of my travel schedule in 2012. On both occasions, in January and November, the city yielded up that timeless sense of refined urban living, unique to great cities like Paris, London… Read more »

Creating sustainable competitive advantage: lessons from the schoolyard

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Industry Relations MCI and Vice President, Ovation Global DMC Remembering the Days of the Old Schoolyard I was always good at rote learning. I found it easy in school to memorise quotations from Shakespeare, formulae for maths class or lyrics to songs. I can still remember chunks of Julius Caesar… Read more »

Building a Brand with Teddy Bears and Hugs: the Ovation Story

by Padraic Gilligan, VP, Ovation Global DMC and VP, Industry Relations, MCI How do you create demand? Previously on this blog I’ve stated that you need to know weird and wonderful people to be truly successful as a destination management company. DMC legends like Laurie Sprouse in Dallas/Fort Worth or Patrick Sullivan in NYC are… Read more »

Copenhagen: from hostile Vikings to hospitable design kings

by Padraic Gilligan, VP, Industry Relations MCI How things change in 1000 years The Danes have come a long way. From marauding, cultureless philistines who raped and pillaged all over Northern Europe to laid back, uber-cool independent types with an eye for razor-sharp design and a sincere  commitment to sustainability. It may have taken a… Read more »

Shanghai Surprises (Part 3) – Marriott, Fairmont and Peninsula

by Padraic Gilligan, VP, Industry Relations, MCI Shanghai and Las Vegas When you visit Shanghai sooner or later you think of Las Vegas. They have much in common. The pace of development is one thing. The scale of the construction projects is another. The audacity of the buildings is a third. The palpable sense of… Read more »

Care in the air: my on-going saga with Delta Airlines

I posted on my Delta Airlines experience on Tuesday last and on Wednesday, upon my return to the office, there was a letter from Delta in my pigeon hole. My first communication had been copied to the nice people in Dublin and they had forwarded it to the Executive Office in Atlanta. Effectively there were… Read more »

How do you market a destination? Lessons from Memphis

by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Tourism-Review.Com recently ran a piece by David Whitley (http://www.grumpytraveller.com) entitled “A Destination Marketing Dilemma: How do you sell a city like Sheffield?” It’s a well written, mildly strident rant about what he calls the “cack-handed, hope-over-reality marketing” that many destination organisations are guilty of. He insists that destination marketing… Read more »