Cork ‘fails to capitalise’ on tourism potential

CORK city must be much more aggressive promoting itself as a tourist destination, new figures show.

A much more organised and aggressive marketing campaign is needed if the city is to capture a bigger slice of the e1.3 billion spent by tourists in the south-west region in 2007 alone.

Fine Gael Councillor John Buttimer made the call after the release of the latest Cork Economic Monitor report, which tracks the economic health of the region on a quarterly basis. Its analysis of tourism for 2007 shows the city’s top tourist centres are performing significantly below the attractions in the county.

Two of Ireland’s top 10 tourist attractions are located in the county. The star performers are Blarney Castle, which attracted 401,567 visitors in 2007, and Fota Wildlife Park, which attracted 362,792.

A total of 70,000 people visited Cork City Gaol, 26,054 visited St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, 12,500 visited Shandon Tower, with 11,930 visiting the Cork Butter Museum.

The Cork Institute of Technology managed Blackrock Castle Observatory, which is expecting 50,000 visitors this year, was not included in the analysis.

“Serious questions have to be asked of Bord Fáilte and Cork City Council for the abject failure in which Cork has failed to capitalise on the potential of this huge market, the failure to bring additional income to the city, and the failure to capitalise on the creation of sustainable full-time and part-time jobs,” Mr Buttimer said. “A better approach to building on the success of major festivals in Cork — Jazz Festival, Film Festival, St Patrick’s Festival, Mid-Summer Festival, Choral Festival, Folk Festival, Short Story Festival — is needed in conjunction with better promotion of tourist attraction centres in the city.”

Cork city has the potential to become a weekend breakaway centre given the accessibility to Cork by air and rail.

“A direct ferry link to the UK and France is also essential to ensure that future tourism targets can be met,” he said.

His comments came as a delegation of Cork city officials, business leaders and third level representatives updated a twinning arrangement with officials in Cork’s sister city, Shanghai.

It will guide the relationship between the two cities until 2014.

They have pledged to foster business, cultural, educational and tourism links.

In particular, they have pledged to explore the potential of Cork as a destination for Chinese companies that are locating functions overseas.

The deal also includes participation by Cork in the Irish Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo in 2010, the extension of the Shanghai-Cork schools programme, which will see exchanges between both countries, and, the establishment of the Confucius classroom programme for schools in Cork.