Plans to develop Cork as a 'must do' food destination

Fáilte Ireland report also shows rebound in domestic tourism

Chef Orla McAndrew giving a cookery demonstration outside the English Market as part of the Cork on a Fork festival in August. A new ‘food and drink in tourism’ strategy was developed for Cork City in 2022. Picture: Chani Anderson

Cork will become a ‘must do’ food destination in Ireland by 2030, under plans by Fáilte Ireland.

A new ‘food and drink in tourism’ strategy was developed for Cork City in 2022, with Fáilte Ireland saying the ambition behind the plan was to “develop the food and drink experience in the city”.

This comes as part of the overall plan of “developing County Cork as a ‘must do’ food destination”.

The success of the Cork on a Fork festival — a city-wide food celebration which includes a feast on the street, food trails, tastings and tours, cooking demos and workshops every August — will give the tourism body hope that the plan will be successful.

Other initiatives in place, as outlined in the Fáilte Ireland Annual Report for 2022, include the development of “’wow’ gala dinner venues of scales” in Ireland’s ‘tourism hubs’ — Dublin, Cork, Kerry, the Shannon Region, and Galway.

Fáilte Ireland said this is to “support Ireland winning larger business into the future”. 

The report said that €2.9bn was spent on domestic travel last year, while the number of people who opted for a domestic overnight holiday was 13.3m, both figures a major increase on pre-pandemic levels.

Cork is the second largest domestic holiday market with almost 1.6m visitors in 2022 and associated expenditure of €336m.

Fáilte Ireland said a major part of the rebound in domestic tourism was the investment of just over €16m across 15 tourist attractions.

These included:

• The Blasket Centre;
• Beyond the Trees in Avondale; 
• The Transatlantic Cable Visitor Centre in Valentia;
• The reopening of and investment in the National Famine Museum in Strokestown, Roscommon.

In addition, as part of plans to ‘open the outdoors’, a network of greenways and blueways are being developed across the country.

Examples include an activation plan for the North Kerry Greenway and plans for a New Ross-Kilkenny greenway.

Climate action

In the report, Fáilte Ireland CEO Paul Kelly said that climate action is a “key strategic pillar for the organisation going forward”. 

 “We are facing a climate change emergency and like all sectors of the economy, tourism needs to play its part in helping Ireland meet its climate change target," he said. 

He said that, in 2022, the organisation held its first national conference on driving climate action in tourism businesses.

“This work will continue into 2023 and beyond.” 

Interim chairman Tom Coughlan said: “2022 was the end of a crisis and the beginning of a new era of different challenges for tourism.

“Those are the challenges Fáilte Ireland is well placed to meet going forward.”