Leeside dines out on Lonely Planet accolade

CORK tourism figures have reported they are feeling slightly less of a pinch than the national picture – exactly a year after being listed in a top guide as one of the Top 10 cities to visit in 2010.

Overseas trips to Ireland in the first half of the year were down by more than a fifth compared to 2009, but the mood appears more positive on Leeside.

One of the businesses singled out for preferable mention in the Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel edition was Cafe Paradiso, already renowned as one of the country’s best vegetarian restaurants, but which had to be completely refurbished after the floods which hit the city just a fortnight after the guide’s publication in early November 2009.

“We’ve certainly had a tough year, but it was a very good summer, compared with other years, for overseas visitors,” said general manager Geraldine O’Toole.

“We had six people from Brazil at different tables one night in August, and certainly some tourists mentioned seeing us in the Lonely Planet. The publicity around it also helped put us back in the mind of local people, and a plug from actor Cillian Murphy in Ryanair’s in-flight magazine during the summer was another boost,” she said.

Fáilte Ireland’s client services manager for Cork Josephine O’Driscoll said overseas visitor numbers to the city and county are probably down slightly on last year, with figures not yet available, but this is probably not a bad situation against the background of a major drop in international tourism.

“We have used the Lonely Planet accolade in all our marketing to foreign tour operators and it has helped us attract around 60 journalists to visit in the first six months of the year, slightly more than other years, who have been writing about Cork for newspapers in the UK, Europe and beyond. We are thinking in the long term rather than the short-term, as we understand people were less likely to travel this year,” she said.

“Hopefully, these efforts will result in a big pick-up next year and beyond, and the Lonely Planet listing certainly helps. I was on the phone to a Chinese journalist yesterday who was very interested in it and why it was awarded to Cork,” Ms O’Driscoll said.

She said the Fastnet Line ferry service linking Cork and Swansea has also helped and the improved road networks have led to more visitors from the North, particularly for east Cork accommodation and attractions.

Cork Airport said passenger numbers for the first 10 months of 2010 are down less than 12% year-on-year, to 2.12 million, but its marketing team has been promoting the Lonely Planet designation to airlines and tour operators, similar to the way Cork’s European Capital of Culture role was highlighted in 2005. Although airlines ended three British and two European services to Cork in the past six months, more than 20 routes have been added to the airport schedule, including year-round services to Belfast, Galway, Wroclaw in Poland, Glasgow and London Gatwick.

The Imperial Hotel on Cork’s South Mall also received honourable mention in the Lonely Planet guide and general manager Joe Kennedy recalls one visitor carrying it when checking in during the summer.

“It’s definitely been a help, but more so for the city in general. Here and at other city hotels, business has been good and, by reducing our rates, we’ve seen more Irish tourists and more from Europe, but fewer US and British guests, with overall occupancy up around 5% on last year,” he said.