by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Off-Beat and Off-the-Beaten Path When the Travel Bloggers [TBEX] conference took place in Dublin a few years ago there were quibbles that these intrepid investigators didn’t really showcase anything new or different about the city. Their coverage tended to focus on what’s already known and loved – Trinity, Guinness,… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolElla Fiche bliain ag fas 20 years ago this year Patrick Delaney and I started Delaney Marketing Consultants and launched ourselves as “Ireland’s leading DMC” to the understandable annoyance of our long established competitors. Some competitors even took their chagrin to higher authorities and lodged official complaints about our promotional… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua “And you shall know them by their airports …” Airports are usually your first point of physical contact with a destination but Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) frequently miss a golden opportunity to turn these crucial first impressions into memorable destination experiences. Nashville is an exception in this regard. No… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Ovation Global DMC TBEX, Dublin Technology, the internet and digital platforms have systematically altered the business tourism landscape as dramatically as the recent emergence of luxury destinations like Dubai and Abu Dhabi in locations where 30 years ago there were only sand dunes. These radical changes were brought home to… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Industry Relations, MCI In a recent post I recalled, with some nostalgia, the halycon days of IT&ME a.k.a. The Motivation Show when the entire meetings and events industry decamped to Chicago every year in September or October. Sometimes we froze and sometimes we were roasted to a crisp depending on… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Ovation Global DMC Mythologising our memories For over two decades meetings and events professionals congregated in Chicago in late September / early October to attend the IT&ME show. It remained IT&ME for many of us long after it was renamed The Motivation Show but our memories of the show, and… Read more »
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 »
by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Ovation Global DMC The debate about the future of Destination Management Companies has crossed the Atlantic and has generated good commentary on the pages at MeetPie, the excellent on-line platform of CAT Publications, publishers of Meetings and Incentive Travel magazine amongst others. In his comment there my good friend David… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President of Industry Relations, MCI and Vice President of Ovation Global DMC Athens Greece – wide open for business meetings Do a Google search for Athens and you’ll get more results for the town in Georgia, that spawned REM (the thinking person’s rock group) than the city in Europe that gave… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Ovation Global DMC Way down South Way back in the late nineties I completed a programme in Tourism Marketing at Boston College. During the programme they flew us for a weekend to Savannah, Georgia to visit a city where inbound visitor numbers had increased significantly, apparently on the strength of… Read more »