Northern Ireland Tourist Board - Product Partnerships Masterclass

25 November 2010

Northern Ireland Tourist Board - Product Partnerships Masterclass

Northern Ireland Tourist Board is delivering a masterclass on developing business partnerships.

This event aims to galvanise tourism professionals to work collaboratively to raise the quality of the visitor experience and understand their role in the visitor journey, as well as building networks to enable them to grow and sell more product in partnership. Aimed at managers and leaders in the tourism sector, this is a not-to-be-missed event which will help you ensure a world-class experience for all your visitors. Details: Tuesday 30th November 2010 9.30am to 1.30pm Europa Hotel Great Victoria Street, Belfast Places at this event cost �40.00 plus VAT and as space is limited, places will be allocated on a first come basis. To register your attendance please click here. Speakers Michelle Thompson, Dalvay by the Sea Resort Hotel, Prince Edward Island, Canada Gary Henry, Galgorm Championship Golf Course Mary McGee, Flavours of Tyrone Tom Cotter, Hastings Group Sean Paul O'Hare, Belfast Festival Robert Cully, Director of Business Development, NITB Event Background We must work together to present quality inspired itineraries for the visitor, based on best practice and unique and authentic experiences. This way, we will grow our visitor numbers and repeat business by building customer loyalty. A business partnership should be just like a personal one - it's a marriage of different individuals for mutual benefit, where similar goals and hopes should be key. Partnership marketing is not new to the travel and tourism industry. Since the 1930s, railway companies have worked closely with seaside towns, spas and cities throughout the UK to produce some of the earliest examples of partnership marketing. Here in NI, we have some fantastic examples of mutually beneficial partnerships. After all, we are a compact destination in a highly competitive arena with our own unique identity, stories and people. Deciding who to partner with doesn't always have to be difficult - especially if you can put yourself in the position of one of your customers. What else will they be looking for when they visit or buy in your area? Once you identify the key elements of what goods and services they need, you can also identify your target partners. Partnership marketing should be developed as a way of increasing business for all concerned. Relationships should not be seen as short term, but rather, as something which can be built on and carried forward. Sharing processes, co-operating on marketing or sales activities, developing new products together - all are ways of creating strong bonds and, in doing so, increasing profitable business. This Masterclass event will inspire and motivate you in the benefits of product partnership and marketing, from an international perspective.