Cork aims to get share of cruise tourists

Tourism ambassadors have, for the first time, begun selling Cork city’s visitor attractions to passengers on board the luxury cruise ships calling to the Port of Cork in a bid to capture a slice of an estimated €12m market.

The port hosted three cruise ships with up to 5,000 passengers and crew on board yesterday — its busiest day in what is expected to be a record cruise liner season — with up to 65 ships expected to call between March and November.

The 142m Le Soléal, with around 400 people on board, berthed on North Custom House Quay on the fourth stop of its eight-night Celtic Coastline cruise, which started in Portsmouth and ends in Dublin.