Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Gathering: Developing an integrated Brand Proposition for Destination Ireland in
2013 through the Internet
The Gathering is an Irish government initiative, in
conjunction with the tourism support agencies, Tourism
Ireland, and Fáilte Ireland. The intention of the initiative is
to encourage some of the 70 million people living outside
Ireland, claiming Irish ancestry, to visit their ancestral
land, during 2013 (The Gathering. 2012). A distinctive
aspect of this brand experience is the fostering of
community involvement in Ireland, with local communities
encouraged to arrange any type of 'gathering', which
could be a clan gathering (e.g. meeting of the O'Connor
clan), or class reunion. Apart from the core 'gatherings', a
second strand is composed of festivals and events. Enterprises and community groups
can register to get brand support through templates, and tourism images - and branding
guidelines are used to support co-branding. Individuals and groups can create their own
gatherings, through registering details on the website. The Gathering is using social
media extensively, including Facebook, Linkedln and Twitter, to facilitate host community
development and communication of activities, and online communications by potential
visitor/visitors, essentially to develop the destination Ireland brand. A Global Community
page on the website (http:/www.thegatheringireland.com) teases out the nature of being
Irish, building on the community of the Irish diaspora, now able through a digital platform
to express this identity. The website uses videos (one featuring the US talk-show host,
Conan O'Brien), links, news, stories and thought pieces to generate a brand narrative. As
the gatherings are taking place in 2013,tourists report on their experiences and positively
promote the Irish brand to the world. Ireland as a destination will be depicted through
the user generated content as local communities, potential visitors and visitors share their
experiences with others through each of the consumption phases.
Figure 11.2
The Gathering: example of tourism brand experience creation through an Internet
platform.
the holiday experience, and if this has been positive, the tourist may be open to joining tourism
destination/fi rm sponsored social network, such as a Facebook site. This then operates as a
virtual community where the tourist can post content, and continue to interact with the tourism
organization. Tourists may also take the opportunity to refl ect on their experience, once the
trip is over, through online blogging. Again, all of these online conversations and inter-
actions contribute towards consumer co-creation of the tourist brand experience (Muniz and
O'Guinn 2001; McAlexander, Schouten and Koenig 2002; Prahalad and Ramaswamy 2004;
Brakus
et al
. 2009).
Conclusions
The Internet presents a major challenge to attempts to control tourism brand image (Munar
2009). But is there any point in the DMO or tourism fi rm attempting to exclusively control
image? Tourism destinations and fi rms must engage with the newly empowered tourist, and
respond to the desire and ability of the tourist to co-create the tourism brand experience through
social media. This chapter has highlighted the importance for tourism fi rms and DMOs of being
aware of the impact of social media on the tourism brand experience. The consumer co-creation
of the experience effectively is the brand (Brakus
et al
. 2009), and the brand experience happens
