Trade fam support

What’s a trade fam?

A trade familiarisation or fam trip is a tour organised with the purpose of educating international buyers about contractable products and services. They create opportunities for networking, building relationships between Irish industry (tourism providers) and buyers to deliver sales through featuring on itineraries sold by buyers.

Who delivers the fam trips?

Through agency fams, the Trade Fams and Platforms team research, create, book and manage bespoke itineraries of saleable experiences. These are developed with the purpose of providing opportunities for the international buyers to experience, first-hand, saleable product in Ireland’s four key brands.

We book the tour guide, coach hire, hotel accommodation, restaurant bookings, activities, visitor attractions etc., supporting Fáilte Ireland’s strategic objectives reflecting the needs of the buyers, including new opportunities and new saleable experiences.

Some fams may have a networking event at which qualified pre-selected industry representatives are invited to meet the buyers. Tourism Ireland is responsible for recruiting the overseas leisure buyers for fam trips.

How are trade fams delivered?

We deliver trade fams in two different ways. Annually we engage with around 800 industry and 1,000 buyers from around 22 international markets. The group size varies and the duration of the fams are usually between three and five days. All buyers are fully hosted by Fáilte Ireland during these fams.

How are tour operators and DMCs supported?

The Trade Fams and Platforms team manage and deliver Fáilte Ireland’s Trade Fam Support initiative, which is aimed at assisting tour operators and DMCs, both Irish and international, to run their own fams. This aligns with Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland strategic objectives to drive better regional spread of visitors, to extend the shoulder seasons and include a mix of iconic and new product and embrace the signature brands.

We understand that in doing so, international operators incur costs to sell a part of Ireland they might not previously have sold. We are prepared to support the tour operators and DMCs in taking that risk and provide financial support in their efforts to sell the new programmes developed.