If you can come to Ireland for a hen or stag party, why can't you come on a cultural package, asks Rosita Boland

Cultural tourism. What is it? Depending on who you talk to, the term cultural tourism - a new buzzword in both the cultural sector and the travel industry - means different things.

According to the World Tourist Organisation, the definition of cultural tourism is: "tourism that focuses on the lifestyles, arts, industries, traditions and leisure activities of the local population".

At its crudest, cultural tourism in other countries is the packaged horror of the done-for-tourists local "tribal dance", or suchlike, where the entertainment is nothing less than an embarrassment, for both participants and audience. You could describe the entire mountain kingdom of Buthan as a cultural tourism destination, since it deliberately limits the numbers of tourists by charging each visitor $240 (€202) per day just to be there.

"Cultural tourism is about trying to set out a series of places in a town or city which are generic and indigenous to that culture," says Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum. "In Dublin, it would be the gold in the Kildare Street museum, for instance, rather than, say, putting on a Reubens exhibition in Dublin, which isn't indigenous to the place."

There is a growing international trend toward a more subtle and imaginative marketing of tourism. People are spending more on travel, and travelling more often. For decades, Ireland has relied heavily on the escorted coach tour market from North America, doing the predictable trot round the Bunratty-Ring of Kerry-Giant's Causeway route. It's a formula that has been looking tired for some time now.

British tourists form 62 per cent of the Irish tourist market (4.75 million in 2004), but the Americans are the biggest spenders per head. Dublin is by far the most popular destination in Ireland for a short break - between 1999 and 2004, visitor numbers to the capital rose by 41 per cent - and is thus well-placed to exploit its cultural tourism potential.

It seems obvious: if you can come to Dublin on an ad-hoc basis either for a hen or stag party, or simply for a straightforward weekend break, why can't you come on a cultural package? This could include perhaps a visit to the Abbey, a concert, a day at Newgrange, and visits to some of the museums and galleries in the city - which, unlike many other European capitals, are free.

The Wexford Festival Opera, for instance, as developed so astutely by the late Jerome Hynes, has become a prime example of niche cultural tourism marketing. And that was, in theory, a hard sell: travelling off-season to southeast Ireland to hear obscure opera. Now the festival has a worldwide reputation and 100 per cent capacity.

"Cultural tourists by definition are high spenders," observes Judith Woodworth, director of the National Concert Hall. "They're looking for events and experiences. What Ireland currently offers tourists is tired and worn around the edges. Dublin has become associated with craic and pubs, and we need to make people aware that there a whole area of culture beyond that. There is a great opportunity now to market culture in the same way that we've been hugely successful at marketing golf."

Francis Rochford is the head of tourism, marketing, policy and impact assessment division in the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism. "The pub is a bit too dominant in the tourist perception of Dublin," Rochford admits. "We have to have a wider mindset. There's potential for a lot more interaction between our department and cultural bodies, for our mutual benefit."

At present, the Tourism Development Policy Unit (TDPU) at the Department of Arts is looking at how tourism and culture can be more successfully marketed and promoted together. They have put together a "Synergies Group", which links in with the representatives of the 18 agencies the department has responsibility for, and which include the National Museum, the National Concert Hall and the Arts Council. The group is expected to produce a report by the end of the year.

This report will be the third major report produced this year associated with the tourism industry. In March, Dublin Tourism published their Deloitte and Touche commissioned Dublin Tourism - A Positive Influence on Dublin's Tourism Trade. In the summer, Tourism Ireland published Restoring Tourism Growth from the British Market. One of the findings of that report was that the desire for what is termed "experiental tourism" (eg "wellness" breaks) is becoming increasingly important as a trip motivator: the "experience" that a visitor will have that will form part of their memories of the trip is becoming more important than simply sightseeing."

Probably the most successful example of the industry tapping into the "wellness and experience" market in recent years is the hugely popular spa break. This, however, is a clearly defined experience, unlike the current vagueness of "cultural tourism", which makes it difficult to market.

Damian O'Neill is product marketing officer for cultural tourism at Fáilte Ireland. "The Synergies report will seek to create a proposition for the cultural produce in Ireland," he says. "We need something tangible to market abroad. Traditionally, the industry we worked with to promote tourism would have been travel agents. But with the internet, the nature of the travel industry has changed. Now we are aiming to work with the Arts Council, with festival and music promoters."

O'Neill sees integrated ticketing as a vital development in promoting cultural tourism. "There isn't one ticket or pass you can buy for Dublin which allows you access to a performance of a show and a range of other things."

What O'Neill wants to see in the future is a situation where, when you buy your plane ticket to visit Dublin on the Internet, you are automatically linked into a site where you can buy a city pass. That pass would allow you book tickets in advance to affiliated organisations, such as theatres and music venues.

With Cork still carrying the title of Capital of Culture, how successfully has it marketed itself abroad as such? Aoife Carlin is director of communications with Cork 2005. "We didn't package Cork abroad, but we did promote it abroad," she says. Tickets for the first six months of the year - including free, but ticketed events, such as the 80,000 tickets allocated to the opening event - came to 735,000. However, even at the end of year, there won't be a breakdown of origin of audience: ie how many of them were international visitors and how many from the domestic market. "This is a challenge faced by all capitals of cultures," Carlin admits.

However, Don Shipley, director of the Dublin Theatre Festival, says that the DTF - and theoretically any arts organisation - has the ability to track the origin of its audience; a vital marketing tool for any organisation.

"Most people nowadays buy tickets for performing arts over the internet, with credit cards," he points out. "It's thus possible to see where your audience is coming from."

Part of the challenge that lies ahead in marketing Dublin as a cultural tourism destination is its current image. Think of Paris and you think of the Louvre. Barcelona and it is Gaudi that springs to mind. Rome - well, Rome fairly crowds the mind with its hoard of cultural treasures.

However, think of Dublin, and it's probably pubs that spring to mind first. While it is fair to say that a drink in an atmospheric Irish pub with traditional music is one of the must-do things for any tourist to Ireland, to date, it has dominated in the image of Ireland abroad.

True, Dublin is a city that we like to think is closely associated with writers, but why is it that we send our visitors on literary pub crawls instead of to the houses of writers? That's because virtually none of them have been preserved. Nobody thought ahead, to the time when cultural tourism would aspire to be more than simply a visit to Bunratty and a pint of plain in the pub.