Connecting the Wild Atlantic Way Digital Conference - A Great Success!

The cutting edge digital conference, hosted by Donegal County Council in association with Fáilte Ireland, took place on Thursday, 25th September 2014 in Solis Lough Eske Castle. It was attended by over 150 tourism providers from across the County. The organisers made every effort to invite top speakers from the leading digital companies in Ireland – Google, Facebook, Digital Ambition, Wolfgang Digital, as we as Customer Service Excellence Ireland.

After a short welcome by Michael O’hEeanaigh, Director of Service, Donegal County Council and the opening speech by Deputy Mayor – Nicholas Crossan.

Fiona Monaghan

The first speaker  - Fiona Monaghan of Fáilte Ireland took the stage. Fiona, as a Head of the Wild Atlantic Way Project, spoke about the work completed to date by Fáilte Ireland, the vision of the WAW, long term ambition of putting WAW on the top 10 list of experiences to do globally, as well as project components and its complexity.  Fiona also emphasised the importance of working together saying: ‘The WAW is about co-operation, collaboration, all the agencies working together from a tourism perspective to do the best we can to put the West of Ireland in the international shop window’.

Charlie Boyle

Charlie Boyle from Customer Service Excellence Ireland followed and explained the importance of good customer service in making a Wild Atlantic Way visit to Donegal more memorable, something that visitors take home and tell their friends and family.

Alan Coleman

The first of the expert panel of Digital Marketing speakers was Alan Coleman of Wolfgang Digital who provided a very entertaining and insightful presentation on SEO vs PPC and the power of search marketing in promoting tourism. He explained the 22-step Customer online Path to Purchase and importance of Paid Search alongside the SEO optimised content.

Jill Rob

Jill Robb from Ambition Digital, who said she was renaming the Wild Atlantic Way to Wild Atlantic Wow, followed Alan with her excellent delivery of the top 12 tips on Digital Marketing on a Shoe String. Jill emphasised the importance of education to keep up with the fast changing online environment, understanding your audience and where they come from and how to interact with them, blogging and writing effective content online. She encouraged her listeners to make the most of Social Media using creativity, good imagery and videos to create relevant and interesting story for fans and followers.

Andrew Weld-Moore

Andrew Weld Moore from Facebook offered a fascinating look at the changes taking place online in terms of Facebook promotions and in particular the huge increase in the use of mobile technology which creates an opportunity for marketers to connect to their customers through a very intimate medium that is their personal mobile phone. The most powerful message Andrew shared was: ‘if you’re not thinking about mobile strategy you will be left behind because mobile is right here in front of us’. Facebook has realised that potential and is currently the most effective marketing platform in the world helping businesses to tap into a huge market and reach their target audience at scale using instant mobile strategy.

During the afternoon, groups were invited to listen to three practical case studies from local tourism businesses that have already been using the Wild Atlantic Way to increase business and bring visitors to Donegal.  Representatives from the WildAtlantic Camp in Creeslough, Donegal Tours and the Silver Tassie Hotel & Spa shared their marketing experiences and the work that they have been doing to incorporate the Wild Atlantic Way into marketing plans.

Conference attendees were invited to fill in a question sheet for the expert panel to answer during the Q&A Session at the end of the day.

Claire Walsh

Presentation by a much anticipated Claire Walsh from Google followed the Q&A session. Claire provided the audience with a keen insight into the world of Google, including fresh ideas on using Google Tools, Ad Words, SEO and of course the power of video in particular for the tourism sector.

Seamus Neely

The finale of the conference was delivered by Seamus Neely, Chief Executive of Donegal County Council who talked about the increasingly important role that tourism plays in the economic development of Donegal.

The conference ignited ambition amongst tourism providers who went home feeling motivated to introduce changes to their traditional marketing plans incorporating both digital techniques and the Wild Atlantic Way. 

The message of the day was that Digital Marketing delivers real results and if tourism providers embrace new technology then a bright future for tourism exists in County Donegal. Digital has the power to bring visitors from all over the world to the very top of the Wild Atlantic Way at Malin Head and to travel throughout Donegal, creating lasting memories of our county on the Wild Atlantic Way that will reach international audiences online for years to come. 



Speakers' profiles and further details about the Conference are available here

Conference Speakers L-R: Seamus Neely, Fiona Monaghan, Alan Coleman, Charlie Boyle, Nicholas Crossan,
Andrew Weld-Moore, Jill Robb

Slieve League Cliffs

Slieve League Cliffs (or Sliabh Liag in Gaelic), situated on the south west coast of County Donegal, are said to be the one of the highest and finest marine cliffs in Europe. To fully enjoy the spectacle of Sliabh League it is best to leave your car at the car park and walk the few miles to the cliffs so as not to miss the exciting scenery of the area. 

There are terrific views of the Atlantic Ocean, the Sligo Mountains and Donegal Bay as you walk towards the terrifyingly high top of Sliabh League, where the cliff face of Bunglas rises over 600m above the raging ocean. Experienced walkers only should venture beyond the viewing point onto One Man's Pass which loops around onto the Pilgrim's Path. 

This is a sacred mountain, for over a thousand years there was a Christian pilgrimage, no doubt Sliabh League was a sacred mountain before the Christians arrived here. You should remember this when visiting, so please do not disturb these monuments of Irish cultural heritage. There's much to know about Sliabh League, like the monks who went to Iceland or the eagle and the baby. To learn more visit the award winning Slieve League Cliffs Centre which is all about local culture, food and crafts served with a real warm Donegal welcome and sense of humour.

Mary From Dungloe Festival

“Oh, then fare ye well, sweet Donegal, the Rosses and Gweedore.

I'm crossing the main ocean, where the foaming billows roar,

It breaks my heart from you to part, where I spent many happy days.

Farewell to kind relations for I'm bound for Amerikay.”

When Pádraig MacCumhaill wrote these lyrics in 1936 about the courtship of Mary Gallagher way back in 1861, little did he realise how his song would capture the imagination of generations of Irish across the world. In doing so, he put the small town of Dungloe in West Donegal, situated on the northwestern tip of Europe, firmly on the map of consciousness for millions of Irish and their Diaspora.

Today, the Mary from Dungloe International Festival continues to go from strength to strength. Now in its 47^th year, previous ‘Marys’ have come from places as far and near as Melbourne, Philadelphia, Manchester, Edinburgh, Armagh, Kildare, and Dungloe itself, to name but a few. Each year the festival attracts tens of thousands of visitors to the area and many cross the foaming billows to get there; although it may be more across the clouds these days. 

Dungloe is part of the large Gaeltacht region of West Donegal and is also known by its Gaelic name of An Clochán Liath which means ‘The Grey Stepping Stone’. This name originates from a grey granite slab that lay on the riverbed at the bottom of the town that was used to cross the river before the erection of a bridge in 1762. It is the commercial hub of the area known as the Rosses, which along with the neighbouring districts of Cloughaneely and Gweedore, are collectively known as the ‘three parishes’, an area which boasts 16,000 Irish speakers. This area of outstanding beauty in West Donegal has to be experienced rather than just seen. 


You need to feel the ground beneath your feet, engage with the friendliest people on Earth, and wine and dine just as proposed by the protagonist of that famous song. This year’s festival takes place from 26^th July – 4^th August, 2014 and could be your stepping stone to West Donegal with its many wonders of natural landscape and culture.

“And I wish I was in sweet Dungloe and seated on the grass.

And by my side a bottle of wine and on my knee a lass.

I'd call for liquor of the best and I'd pay before I go

And I'd roll my Mary in my arms in the town of sweet Dungloe.”