Tenth Annual Tourism Policy Workshop

November 22nd-23rd

Dromoland Castle 2019

“Irish Tourism—From Bust To Boom In

10 Years: Learning From The Past And

Shaping The Next Decade” For further details visit: www.tourismpolicyworkshop.wordpress.com

Tourism Policy Workshop

Programme

Friday 22nd November

16.00 Registration at Dromoland Castle

17:45 Welcome and Opening Address, Dr Christine Cross, Dean, Kemmy

Business School

Session 1: The Economic Backdrop To Tourism Development

18:00 (A) “The Irish Economy A Decade On From The Crash: Looking

Back, Thinking Ahead”

Prof Alan Ahearne, Whitaker Institute, NUI Galway

18:30 (B) “Ireland’s Competitiveness Performance And Challenges

Ahead”

Dr Frances Ruane, Chair, National Competitiveness Council

19:00 (C) “Irish Tourism Policy To 2029: Some Suggestions”

Prof Jim Deegan, National Centre for Tourism Policy Studies

19:30 Questions & Answers

20:00 Dinner in The Earl of Thomond Dining Room, Dromoland Castle

Saturday 23rd November

Session 2: Tourism Performance And The Role Of Aviation

9:15 (A) “Irish Tourism Performance: Learning From The Last 10 Years”

Caeman Wall, Fáilte Ireland

9:45 (B) “Big Decisions: The Impact, Potential And Challenges Of Air

Transport For Ireland”

Prof Aisling Reynolds Feighan, UCD

10:15 (C) “Aviation And Tourism In The Long Term”

Colm McCarthy, Economist and Public Policy Analyst/Commentator

10:45 Questions & Answers

11:00 Coffee

Session 3: Disruptive Change In Hospitality

11:20 (A) “Belong Anywhere And Disrupt Everywhere: How Airbnb Is Transforming Tourism (And The World)”

Prof Daniel Guttentag, School of Business, College of Charleston, South Carolina

11:55 (B) “The Impact Of The Stark Divergence In Profitability Levels Between City And Regional Hotels In Ireland”

Aiden Murphy, Crowe Ireland

12:25 (C) “The View From The Cockpit”

Dr Howard Hastings, OBE and MD of Hastings Hotels And

Stephen McNally, Deputy CEO, Dalata Hotel Group

12:40 Questions and Answers For The Full Panel

13:00 Break

Session 4: Visitor Management And Engagement

16:30 (A) “Visitor Numbers Are Vanity”

Geraldine Enright, Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience

17:00 (B) “The Bicester Village Shopping Collection: A Global Platform

Developing Shopping Tourism In Ireland "

Anthony Knight, Head of Global Partnerships at Value Retail

17:30 Questions and Answers

17:45 (A) “Urban Digital Transformation: The Rise Of Smart City Regions”

Dr Mihai Bilauca, Limerick City and County Council

18:15 (B) “Automation And The Future Of (Decent) Work: Some Possibilities For Tourism”

Prof Tony Dundon, Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick

18:45 (C) “Tourism Trends Over The Next Decade”

Patrick Whyte, European Editor, Skift

19:20 Questions and Answers

19:40 Final Address

Session 5: Change And Innovation: The Policy Choice(s)

Speakers

Olivia O’Leary has presented current affairs programmes for the last three decades for both

RTE and the British Channels, BBC and ITV. As a print journalist, she has written about politics

for both ‘the Sunday Tribune’ and ‘The Irish Times’. She does a weekly radio column for RTE

Radio 1’s Drivetime and is the presenter of RTE Radio 1’s ‘The Poetry Programme’. She has re-

cently presented a two hour television documentary-‘Daniel O’Connell: Forgotten King of Ire-

land’- for RTE 1.

Alan Ahearne is Director of the Whitaker Institute and Professor of Economics at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He is a member of the Commission of the Central Bank of Ireland, Chair of the Central Bank’s Risk Committee, and Chairman of the joint ESRI and Department of Finance Research Programme on the Macroeconomy, Taxation and Banking. He is a member of the External Advisory Group to Ireland’s Parliamentary Budget Office. He has served as adviser to the IMF, as research fellow at Bruegel, as a consultant to the UK’s Department for Internation-al Development, and as economic adviser to Ireland’s former Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan. Before joining NUI Galway, he was Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Board in Washing-ton, DC, where he worked for seven years. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Carnegie Mellon University.

Dr Frances Ruane is Chair of the National Competitiveness Council and a member of the Europe-an Statistical Governance Advisory Board (ESGAB). She has previously served as Chair of the Na-tional Statistics Board and has been a Board Member of various public bodies in Ireland, including the IDA, Forfás, Bord Gáis Eireann, the Higher Education Authority, and the Commission of the National Pensions Reserve Fund. She became an Honorary Fellow at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in 2010 and was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2003. She served as President of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland from 2016-2019. Her research interests are in economic development, international economics and public policy. Educated at UCD and Oxford University, Frances held academic and senior administrative positions at TCD between 1977 and 2006, and was Director of the ESRI from 2006 to 2015. Born in Tuam Co Galway, Frances is cur-rently Chair of the Abbey Theatre, Ireland’s National Theatre.

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 under-taken 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 cur-rently a non executive director of the Birr Scientific and Heritage Foundation.

Caeman Wall is Fáilte Ireland’s Head of Economic & Industry Analysis. He leads a multi-disciplinary team in resolving complex business challenges through evidence-based analysis and collaborative approaches. Currently, he takes the lead on changing Fáilte Ireland’s research focus from mainly producing data reports to generating more applicable insights and more joint working with internal teams, trade partners and public sector stakeholders. Previous roles with-in 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.

Aisling Reynolds-Feighan is Professor of Transport Economics at University College Dublin and Vice-Principal for Research Innovation and Impact in the UCD College of Social Sciences and Law. Aisling has worked as a transport consultant/expert to the US Department of Trans-portation, the OECD, European Commission, Irish Department of Transport, ESRI, Irish Export-ers Association and DKM Economic Consultants. She was a member of the EU's FP7 and FP6 Expert Advisory Panels in Transport. Aisling has published extensively on air and road transport economics in the leading international transportation research journals. Aisling has presented to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport, and contributes regularly to pub-lic debate on transport matters through TV, radio and print media outlets. She was Chair of the Regional Science Association International British and Irish Section, 2013-2017 and in 2018 was elected Fellow of the Air Transport Research Society during the 22nd World Confer-ence in Seoul, South Korea.

Aiden Murphy is a partner within the Crowe Ireland’s Corporate Finance department and has

consulted on hotel projects for over 20 years. Aiden has asset management experience in terms

of ongoing reviews and monitoring of company activities and projects. Aiden produces the an-

nual Ireland Hotel Industry Survey and recently published the 24th edition. He is well known

within the hotel industry and has a vast knowledge of the sector. He has assisted with strategy,

business plans, refinancing and feasibility studies for hotels throughout Ireland.

Aiden works across various sectors including property development, construction, hospitality,

tourism, government and trading assets seeing projects from inception to disposal. His specific

experience includes Independent Business Reviews for funders, commercial due diligence and

finance negotiation.

Colm McCarthy is a graduate in Economics of University College Dublin and of the University

of Essex. He has worked at the Economic and Social Research Institute, the Central Bank of

Ireland, with the economic consulting firm DKM and at the Economics Department of Univer-

sity College Dublin. He has served on the boards of the Electricity Supply Board, the Irish Gas

Board and is currently a member of the Dublin Airport Authority. He chaired the Irish govern-

ment’s public spending review (An Bord Snip) in 2009. He writes regular columns for the

Farmers Journal and for the Sunday Independent.

Daniel Guttentag is an Assistant Professor in Hospitality and Tourism Management in the

School of Business at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, USA. He additionally serves

as the Director of the university’s Office of Tourism Analysis, which undertakes research on

behalf of the local tourism industry. He holds a Ph.D. in Recreation and Leisure Studies and a

Master’s degree in Tourism Policy and Planning, both from the University of Waterloo

(Canada), and he previously worked for the Toronto Convention and Visitors Bureau. Daniel

wrote one of the first academic papers on Airbnb, and has remained a leading researcher on

the topic ever since. He has published in many of the top hospitality and tourism journals, and

he presents regularly on Airbnb and other topics to academics, industry professionals, and

policymakers.

Geraldine Enright is currently the Director of the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience, the most visited natural site in Ireland. For well over a decade Geraldine has held senior management roles in Operations, Human Resources and Marketing within the organisation before taking on the role of Director and Company Secretary in 2017. She is now spearheading a comprehen-sive 20 year strategy for the Cliffs of Moher with initiatives which will transform how the Cliffs of Moher will manage its success through, sustainability, capacity management, the visitor experience and how this will benefit the wider North Clare area. She brings experience in change management to the organisation and has been part of a number of innovative man-agement programs in the past, which are now being developed to the next stage as part of the strategy.

Dr. Mihai Bilauca is Head of Digital Strategy and EU Programmes at Limerick City and Coun-

ty Council. Under Mihai’s leadership, Limerick has become the first Lighthouse Smart City

in Ireland. Mihai has worked in various roles in ICT Management for UPC Romania, and for

Limerick City Council in senior roles or heading the ICT, Change Management

(organisational transformation) or Customer Services departments. Mihai is involved in

standardization work for Smart Cities & Communities with international standardization

organisations (ISO, CEN/CENELEC, ETSI).

Tony Dundon is Professor of HRM and Employment Relations at the Department of Work

& Employment Studies, University of Limerick. He is Visiting Professor at the Work and

Equalities Institute (WEI), the University of Manchester, and Honorary Professor at St An-

drews University, Scotland. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS); Fel-

low of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (FCIPD); and former Editor-

in-Chief of the Human Resource Management Journal (HRMJ). Recent books include:

‘Routledge Companion of Employment Relations’ (2018); ‘A Very Short, Fairly Interesting

and Reasonably Cheap Book about Employment Relations’ (2017, Sage); and ‘Elgar Intro-

duction to Theories of Human Resources and Employment Relations’ (2019). Recently, To-

ny was invited to present research evidence about the challenges for the future of work

arising from automation, new technology and artificial intelligence to a British House of

Commons select committee.

Anthony Knight Anthony Knight is Head of Global Partnerships, The Bicester Village Shopping

Collection by Value Retail, creator and operator of The Bicester Village Shopping Collection. A

global platform of 11 award-winning luxury shopping destinations in Western Europe and Chi-

na, represented by Kildare Village in Ireland. As a first for the retail sector worldwide, Value

Retail became an Affiliate Member of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation in 2012

and is a Member of the World Travel & Tourism Council and an Associate Member of the Euro-

pean Travel Commission. Anthony’s role involves the destination marketing of the 11 Villages

in Europe and China. His focus includes strategic business development of The Bicester Village

Shopping Collection’s payment partners, with those of Kildare Village, enhancing the global

visibility of the Village and County Kildare as an international destination for long haul travel-

lers. Anthony is a graduate in Tourism of the University of Bedfordshire and is currently resi-

dent in the UK.

Patrick Whyte oversees the comings and goings in the European market for Skift – the largest

industry intelligence platform providing media, insights and marketing to key sectors of trav-

el. Previously he worked for travel trade magazine TTG and freelanced at The Guardian, The

Evening Standard and AOL.

Tenth Annual Tourism Policy Workshop

November 22nd - 23rd

Dromoland Castle 2019

“Irish Tourism-From Bust to Boom In 10

Years: Learning From The Past And

Shaping The Next Decade” www.dromolandannualtourismpolicyworkshop.wordpress.com

www.dromolandannualtourismpolicyworkshop.wordpress.com