A tourism strategy with a major focus on turning Ireland into a “foodie” destination and extending the tourist season from St Brigid’s weekend to Halloween is to be announced next month.
The wider plan includes a first “national culinary tourism strategy” which would run on an all-island basis and involve the development of food trails and weeklong food-based holidays in key destinations.
Tourism has moved to the Enterprise and Trade portfolio under this Government and Minister Peter Burke’s plan aims to deliver benefits for some 46,000 small and medium enterprises in the sector.
Food businesses will be developed with trails or themes synonymous with certain regional hotspots such as distillery tours in the Midlands and coastal food trails based on seafood restaurants. Specific destination marketing campaigns will be developed and there will be promotion of “unique food and beverage offerings”.
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The strategy will also involve the reopening of a number of tourism marketing offices including in Tokyo, Japan. Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland will be set targets under the near-completed strategy.
Countries like France, Italy and Spain are major culinary destinations but food is rarely cited as the primary reason for travelling to Ireland.
Scenery remains the top attraction for tourists coming to Ireland, but food and drink account for some 34 per cent of total visitor spend, according to tourism bodies.
The policy comes as Fáilte Ireland’s latest tourism barometer showed that 43 per cent of tourism businesses reported a fall in income this summer.
However, Mr Burke said “last year was a bumper year for tourism and it is a big challenge to replicate that”. He noted the Dublin Airport passenger cap had reduced the number of seats available by 12 per cent over the summer.
It will be different over the winter, he said, with the lifting of the cap and a corresponding 9 per cent rise in seat availability with the potential for “well over one million” visitors.
Speaking in the Dáil last week, Mr Burke told Sinn Féin Cavan-Monaghan TD Cathy Bennett the new strategy would “show how we are going to grow revenue sustainably and grow the number of visitors coming in, which is critically important”.
“We will also outline career pathways as well as looking at extending the season from St Brigid’s Day right out to Hallowe’en. There is a huge amount of opportunity in those areas.”
Mr Burke told Ms Bennett the “very exciting culinary strategy” would be done on an all-island basis by “working in co-operation with our colleagues in Northern Ireland”.
“The plan will show how we are going to grow revenue sustainably and grow the number of visitors coming in, which is critically important.”
It will also focus on giving certainty to hotels to extend the season, following significant investment this year in Hallowe’en tourism offerings.
