West Cork bids to become ‘must see’ destination

An EU think-tank begins in West Cork today on how the region and other tourism hot spots can best promote themselves as “must see” destinations on the international stage.

Members of the board of the EU group Eden (European Destinations of Excellence) organisation — along with delegates from all over Europe — are in town for a three-day conference to discuss a wide agenda which includes deciding how to give tourism destinations the best tools to highlight their attractions.

West Cork is an excellent example of a region which is not promoting itself effectively, said Michael O’Neill. He is the Eden representative for Clonakilty, chairman of Eden Ireland and a member of the European board of administrators.

Pointing out that the region has two of the five Irish Eden Destinations of Excellence — Clonakilty and the Sheep’s Head Peninsula — Mr O’Neill said Co Cork as a whole would benefit from such a roadmap.

“The amount of tourists in Kerry and the superb tourism infrastructure that has been put in place there puts Cork to shame, they’re just so far ahead of us,” said Mr O’Neill, marketing manager at the Fernhill House Hotel where the conference is being held.

“Having two Eden destinations recognised by the EU is very significant to Cork and something we must promote at every turn,” he said, pointing out there were less than 200 destinations throughout Europe chosen under strict criteria.

The other three Irish locations are Loop Head in Clare, Mulranny in Mayo and Carlingford in Louth.

Over the next three days, the EDEN delegates from Germany, Holland, Belgium Italy and Estonia will draft a blueprint for how to promote tourism destinations internationally: “We will be looking at how to give individual destinations like Clonakilty or the Sheeps’ Head a road-map on how to best promote themselves,” Mr O’Neill said.

He said the group would debate methods such as the use of social media, linking in with tourism groups, getting EU grants to pay for specific tourism-marketing personnel and interacting with successful destinations to learn best practise.