Irish Genealogy Tourism in a Globalised World: An Analysis of Contemporary Trends in County Galway

Thls paper ls concem ed with the challenges now faced by genealogy tourlsm in County Galway, situated on Ireland’s western seaboard. It presents, in a condensed format, the results of fieldwork which combined qualitaUve and quantitative methodologles, namely recorded focus-group and one-to-one interviews (23 interviewees), partlcipant observatlon (6 partlcipants), dtaries (2 partlcipants) and ąuestlonnaires (302 respondents). Thts assisted in producing a comprehensive cross-seetoral snapshot of genealogy tourlsm tn the region and has enabled us to tackle three pertlnent ąuestions: what are the reasons behlnd the 50% decline in the overall number of genealogy tourlsts vlstUng Ireland sińce 2000?; what are the proflles, needs and expectations of genealogy tourlsts comlng to Ireland and how do they differ from those of mainstream tourlsts?; can the genealogy tourism market be reeovered and-if yes-how can thls be achieved? Flnally, the investigatlon brought fresh perspectives on marketing Iiish genealogy and incorporating it into new herltage tourism products that respect local needs but respond to the competitive envlronment of a globalised world in which the tourism lndustry continuously redefmes its roles.