Boost for East Cork hotels as Fota to host Open

Hotels in East Cork have already taken bookings for this year’s Irish Open after it was confirmed the annual golfing event will be held at Fota Island in June.

The event should prove a tourism boost for Cork City, which is less than 15 minutes drive from the resort.

The city manager has indicated the council will give the event organisers a €50,000 cash injection, using funds from its European Development Fund, to help bolster the marketing of Cork and the surrounding region.

The event’s switch from Carton House in Kildare to Co Cork had been strongly rumoured, and some avid golf fans made sure that accommodation would not be a problem by making bookings even before the event was confirmed, according to the Commodore Hotel in Cobh.

“There are some big golfing fans out there who had already provisionally booked out the dates. We are expecting a big boost from it as the hotel did well when it was in East Cork in 2001 and 2002. We did well in bar sales and accommodation and would expect to do the same this year,” said Ciara Mahony, the hotel’s marketing manager.

Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell and Padraig Harrington are some of the big names that are expected to take part.

Cork Chamber chief executive Conor Healy said “an event of this magnitude has the potential to attract thousands of national and international visitors to Cork and the worldwide media coverage will also promote Cork as an excellent holiday and golfing destination”.

Stephen Belton owns two hotels in East Cork, the Garryvoe Hotel and the Bayview, in Ballycotton. He hopes the visitors will spend a few days in East Cork before or after the golfing.

“You’ll see a mixture of people and there will definitely be benefits for the wider East Cork area, for the Jameson Distillery, Spike Island, Fota Wildlife Park.

“In the past number of years, a number of tourist spots have been developed such as Spike Island and we hope that the event will showcase all of these.”

Oonagh Montague of the Ring of Cork, which markets East Cork, said “there is some amazing adventure-based tourism in the area which means that if all the family aren’t interested in golf, they will find no end of ways to spend their time”.

The Fota Island Resort was sold by Nama last year to a Chinese family, the Kangs. The Chinese hoteliers paid €21m for the property.

This year’s Irish Open will take place from June 19-22 in the week following the US Open at Pinehurst in North Carolina.