Cork bucks trend with Christmas trade boost

CORK bucked the national trend to record an significant increase in Christmas trade, according to figures released yesterday.

The Cork Marketing Partnership (CMP) said its analysis of city centre traders showed that the volume of trade over the Christmas period was up by between 5% and 7% on last year.

The volume of Christmas trade nationally fell by about 3.5%.

CMP said the feedback it got from between 10 and 15 key retailers in the city showed that December trade was up on last year.

Despite bad weather and a slight decrease in footfall, consumer spending was up, with most money being spent in the two weeks before Christmas.

Hotels also reported an increase in bed nights with visitors from all over Ireland coming to the city for weekend breaks.

CMP attributed the growth of business on Leeside to the implementation of its targeted advertising and promotional activity.

CMP chairman Michael Geary welcomed the results.

“2007 was an intensive year or planning at Cork Marketing Partnership with a number of successful initiatives launched,” he said.

The establishment of the Cork Convention Bureau and the screening of a Christmas TV advertising campaign were amongst the most important activities.

The ad, which focused on what the city had to offer in terms of shopping and visitor attractions, was screened 240 times on nine channels in the run up to Christmas.

Mr Geary said the campaign was an unqualified success.

He said the Cork Convention Bureau, which is designed to stimulate interest in Cork as a fresh and exciting destination for conferences, had undertaken extensive marketing activity in Ireland, Britain and Europe.

“The bureau has established itself and attracted key buyers to Cork with concrete business materialising,” he said.

Conferences coming to Cork in the coming months include the under-18 Six Nations Rugby Festival with 400 participants, the European Road Bowling Festival, with 2,000 participants, and the 10th International Short Story Festival, secured with help from the Triskel, with participating writers including Pulitzer prizewinners Richard Ford and Robert Olen Butler.

CMP was established early last year to develop promotional initiatives, to promote business tourism and to promote economic development in the Cork region.

It involves Cork City and County Councils, Cork Chamber, the Cork branch of the Irish Hotel Federation, Cork Business Association, the Port of Cork, Cork Airport Authority and Fáilte Ireland South West Region.