‘Even a 1pc increase would generate €150m’ – Fáilte Ireland’s Caroline Bocquet speaks about new ‘Find Yourself on a Short Break’ campaign at IHF Conference

Caroline Bocquel the new CEO of Fáilte Ireland revealed that Fáilte Ireland’s new domestic campaign called Find Yourself on a Short Break to replace the 2019 Discover Ireland campaign will launch in the coming weeks.

She expected the energetic initiative to encourage more short breaks within Ireland and boost the domestic market, where 16m trips occurred annually and even a 1pc increase would generate €150m for the economy.

During a panel discussion at the Irish Hotels Federation Annual Conference in Killarney she noted that fierce competition coexisted with genuine willingness to help one another when needed, and described the Irish tourism sector as well-connected, considerate, and innovative

Bocquel expressed excitement about the potential unlocked by tourism’s placement within an economic department under Minister Peter Burke. She identified a key challenge: the sector needed to demonstrate its status as an economic powerhouse more effectively. With one in ten people employed directly in tourism and likely the same again indirectly, Ms Bocquel stressed the importance of providing robust economic data, analysis, and insight to government to secure necessary investments and empower the ministry.

She praised collaboration across the island with Tourism Ireland and emphasised the value of working together on shared opportunities. Ms Bocquel welcomed the government’s new tourism strategy, A New Era for Irish Tourism, a five-year plan to develop the tourism product. The strategy aimed for the sector to approach a €15 billion industry, including a substantial domestic portion.

Competitiveness formed a major focus. Ms Bocquel explained that Fáilte Ireland was drafting a new strategy to address costs through programmes such as F&B 360 and climate change initiatives, while also helping businesses review models, lower expenses including labour, and scale for better margins.

She outlined a three-legged investment approach: continued long-term commitments to cultural and natural assets, plus short- and medium-term investments for rapid deployment where needed. Bocquel expressed particular enthusiasm about artificial intelligence’s role in tourism. She noted that 90pc of people now asked queries rather than traditional searches, with many never clicking beyond AI-generated responses at the top. Among Gen Z and millennials, 41pc trusted AI more than friends.

Fáilte Ireland planned to ensure businesses appeared prominently in those AI responses through continued digital training and tools. Ms Bocquel stressed the need for authentic, verified information so that when visitors searched for experiences, Irish businesses ranked highly.

Caroline Bocquel shared “90pc of people now when they do a search for something. They no longer just do a search. They’re asking a query. Where should I go on holiday? And 90pc of those people never go beyond the AI feedback that they get at the top of their search. They never click on a link. 41pc of Gen Z and millennials trust AI more than their friends.”

“What we need to do in Fáilte Ireland for all of you is ensure that when people are putting in those searches that your businesses are showing up. So that’s what we need to enable you to do is continue our digital that delivers program to make sure that you and your teams are equipped not only to be able to do that but to be able to put the right authentic verified information up there so that when people visitors from around the world are searching for something to do that your businesses are the ones that are showing up.”

“I think my first impression is that it’s a very well-connected sector. it’s very considerate, very innovative. People compete fiercely, but they will help one another uh when they need to. Uh which is something that is new to me and it’s a it’s a very interesting opportunity that we have.”

“One of the things that has really struck me is how much opportunity we have as a sector. Listening to Minister Burke last night, it’s very clear that now being in an economic department has huge potential for us. But we have a challenge that we have to overcome that Fáilte Ireland will address very quickly now, which is that we need to show that we are the economic powerhouse that we know we are as a sector.”