Shannon body in tourism review

Shannon Development is to carry out a strategic review of its tourist arm which operates Bunratty Castle and Folk Park in Co Clare as well as six other attractions in the Mid-West.

Coinciding with plans to subsume it into the newly- formed Shannon Group plc, the agency has tendered for consultants to carry out a comprehensive review of Shannon Heritage.

Already, Shannon Heritage’s attractions welcome around 380,000 visitors annually, including 85,000 at its medieval banquets and traditional Irish nights at its three castles and folk park.

The firm’s attractions include the recently revamped €5.6m King John’s Castle in Limerick, Knappogue Castle and Walled Garden in Co Clare, and Malahide Castle and Gardens in Dublin.

At peak season, Shannon Heritage employs 260 and, in the tender, Shannon Development is seeking consultants to assess current visitor attractiveness of all sites and activities from the perspective of trade, consumers and market influencers.

The consultants will also undertake to examine the scope of the current portfolio for future commercial development through possible expansion of site activities. The brief for the consultants also includes a review of the current positioning of the heritage and entertainment portfolio in the context of market appeal and the future direction of the organisation.

The successful tenders will also identify the critical success factors required for each site to progress to the next level of commercial development and financial sustainability, and assess options to fund the capital expenditure requirements associated with the Shannon Heritage Portfolio.

The consultants will also review Shannon Heritage’s cost structure to ensure alignment with business activities and commercial focus while they will also be expected to examine current offerings in the context of benchmarking against comparable leading national and international sites.

According to Shannon Development — now trading as Shannon Commercial Enterprises — the output of the review process will provide a strategic roadmap for the Heritage Group as an overall entity, in addition to identifying the preferred strategic direction for each of the individual properties within the current portfolio. The agency states that the review will also identify new commercial opportunities for the business to explore.

The closing date for tenders is September 5 and Shannon Development expects that work on the review will take eight weeks to complete.

The most recent accounts lodged by Shannon Heritage for 2012 show that the firm returned to profit to record a pre-tax profit of €65,079 after its gross profit increased by 3.5% to €7m.