State tourism agency Fáilte Ireland paid consultants €17.5 million over the last four years to run a scheme meant to boost visitor attractions’ online ticket sales.
The Republic’s national tourism development authority launched a programme, Digital that Delivers, in 2021 to aid businesses in maximising online sales.
By the end of last year, Fáilte Ireland had paid one consultants’ firm – Shannon, Co Clare-based Core Optimisation – €17.5 million since the programme’s launch, internal figures show.
Total spending under the Digital that Delivers programme came to around €24 million. The authority distributed the balance, €6.6 million, in grants to 440 organisations and tourist attractions around the Republic, according to the same figures.
Fáilte Ireland confirmed that it had paid Core Optimisation €17.5 million – including VAT – up to the end of last year. Excluding the sales tax, the total was €14.2 million.
Responses to queries about the digital programme indicated that Core Optimisation could be in line for further payouts under its contract with the State body.
Fáilte Ireland originally hired the business as the programme’s project manager following a tendering process in May 2021 in a deal worth €6 million, according to the tourist development authority.
Core Optimisation was successful with a second bid to manage the programme in March 2023 in a tender that Fáilte Ireland says was worth €25 million.
The Shannon-based company subcontracted out some of the work to Manchester firm CTConsults and Dublin business RazorSpire, which was formerly known as RazorSocial.
CT received €2.945 million and Razor €2.645 million, both excluding VAT.
Run by chief executive Paul Kelly, Fáilte Ireland employs 450 people. Its role is to market the Republic as a holiday destination and to support tourism businesses.
A spokeswoman explained that it did not have the expertise needed to run the Digital that Delivers programme.
The authority said in a statement that its research had identified that many of the Republic’s 1,400 tourist attractions, activities and tours lagged European rivals’ in online sales, leading to “lost opportunities”.
Most of the businesses concerned were small and did not have the skills or cash needed to improve their websites or online booking systems.
The authority developed a programme that provided one-to-one guidance in improving websites, booking and marketing. It says that it hired Core Optimisation through the tendering process to provide this.
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Fáilte Ireland maintains that the 236 businesses that have taken part to date have increased sales by up to 10 per cent. Another 336 are still in the programme.
Caroline Dunlea, chief executive, and David Brett, chief operating officer, own Core Optimisation through its parent, The Results Agency Ltd. Accounts filed by the firm show that its profit increased to €535,345 in 2021, the year it won the first Digital that Delivers tender, from €178,743 in 2020. It grew staff to 27 from 17.
By 2023, staff numbers had grown to 41. Profit for that financial year slipped to €6,282 from €269,604. Core Optimisation had not responded to a request for comment by the time of going to press.
