Coasting through Dublin

Dublin Coastal Trail is a tourism product developed in response to growing visitor numbers to the city of Dublin. It has been designed to encourage visitors to explore a greater geographical area by motivating them to visit locations along the Dublin coastline.

Dublin Coastal Trail locations encompass a range of appealing experiences, from exhilarating cliff-top walks and stunning beaches to great local eateries and super-fresh produce, in and around towns and villages both north and south of the city centre.

All images courtesy of Fionn Mc Cann, for Fáilte Ireland

In 2019, in partnership with infrastructure experts AECOM, Tandem were appointed to develop a Visitor Orientation Strategy for Dublin. The strategy’s aim was to address recognised barriers to the delivery of Dublin’s tourism proposition: ‘Dublin – vibrant city life, side-by-side with the natural outdoors’.

We developed a vision for the strategy and together with AECOM established a set of actions for both short-, medium- and long-term wins. The Dublin Coastal Trail was one such action.

Dublin’s coastline is surprisingly accessible with great rail links from the city’s main stations and includes some exceptional places. We developed a brand strategy to underpin marketing activities and a wayfinding, orientation and interpretation signage scheme to be introduced into key trail destinations.

Following extensive, on-the-ground site analysis, and working closely with Fáilte Ireland’s team and AECOM, we identified primary destinations for the initial roll out.

Consultations with four local councils and transport providers followed before we entered the delivery phase. This involved a detailed and collaborative process with infrastructure consultants, mapping providers, signage manufacturers and the client team to ensure precise coordination.

At each selected destination we introduced a gateway sign, close to the arrival point, which provides visitors with an overview of that location’s key attractions. From here, visitors are encouraged to seek out a strategically located discovery point which would put them at the heart of the destination.

We developed a foreign language system, accessed via QR code on the panels.