Over 100 businesses from counties Clare and Limerick attended a special Fáilte Ireland Clare/Limerick Networking event in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Limerick.
The event was organised by Fáilte Ireland to build collaboration between tourism businesses from both counties, encouraging them to work together as a region to attract more visitors and encourage them to stay longer and spend more.
Face-to-face networking sessions were facilitated among the tourism businesses to provide them with the opportunity to forge new connections and renew old ones. Fáilte Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way team also provided the businesses with an update on upcoming local Fáilte Ireland initiatives along with outlining the benefits of cross-collaboration and promotion for the region.
Speaking at the event, Manager Wild Atlantic Way with Fáilte Ireland, Margaret Jenkins said: “Both Clare and Limerick are visitor destinations with high international and domestic appeal who have an ambitious, co-ordinated industry. By bringing tourism businesses from each county together for this important workshop, we can foster and strengthen connections to form a new tourism region on the Wild Atlantic Way which is well primed to compete with other key tourism hotspots.
Combining the strengths of both counties into a unified proposition will ensure visitors can easily access a wider range of visitor activities, attractions and accommodation to suit every budget and demographic, encouraging them to explore further, stay longer and spend more.”
Commenting on the Clare/Limerick Networking event, Patricia Roberts, Co. Chair of the Limerick Destination & Experience Development Group and Owner of No. 1 Pery Square Hotel & Spa said; “It’s fantastic to see so many Limerick and Clare businesses represented here today. This event is particularly relevant considering Limerick’s recent designation as a Wild Atlantic Way Gateway City, which promotes Limerick as a highly attractive tourism destination in its own right and now also as the ideal base to explore the Wild Atlantic Way, including Co. Clare.”
Geraldine Enright, Cliffs of Moher Clare Tourism North West and Co-Chair of the Burren & Cliffs of Moher DEDP said: “I very much welcome this new strategy – to disrupt the traditional flow of visitors who travel between Galway and Killarney sometimes without visiting the Mid-West region at all.
The regional marketing of Clare and Limerick encourages the region to work together more to highlight the attractiveness of the area, broaden out their target markets and win more new business which is then shared around the region. When visitors are fully immersed in a region with lots of experiences and facilities, they enjoy the variety of their experience and then tend to spend more time exploring which has great benefits for both counties.”
*Photos: Eamon Ward
