Fingal County Council officially launched its Tourism Strategy for the county with the objective of making Fingal the destination of choice in Ireland. The strategy, ‘Destination Fingal’ sets out a range of actions to improve and expand the visitor experience, to adopt new approaches to marketing Fingal, and develop new partnerships within the tourism sector to realise the areas potential.
At a prestigious event in Swords Castle, which is a key element of the new strategy, the Mayor of Fingal, Cllr. David O’Connor spoke of his pride in seeing Swords Castle open to the public again after many years of closure. He thought it was particularly appropriate that Swords Castle was hosting the launch of the county’s new tourism strategy given that the castle has the potential to play a key role in attracting new visitors to Swords and to Fingal.
Putting tourism in context in the county, the Mayor underlined that “The strategy estimates that visitors to Fingal generate a spend of €500m a year and sustain one in four of our jobs in the county”.
Welcoming the launch of the strategy, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe TD said that “The Government’s new Tourism Policy Statement – People, Place and Policy: Growing Tourism to 2025 – sets out a range of policy objectives that will maximise the economic, social, and environmental benefits of tourism, with the aim of attracting 10 million overseas visitors to Ireland annually by 2025. Under the new policy, Local Authorities will have a key role in supporting the development of tourism and so I commend Fingal County Council for leading the way in developing this local tourism strategy, which will help deliver on national policy objectives. Fingal has a number of distinct advantages, not least in terms of the richness of the natural assets and cultural heritage in the area, but also the proximity of Dublin Airport and the easy access to and from Dublin City. I would urge continued close collaboration with Fáilte Ireland and other key partners in delivery so that the development of tourism in Fingal can be fully integrated with the forthcoming brand experience for Dublin”.
Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, Paul Reid, picking up on this point stressed that Fingal will be working hard in the coming months to ensure that the county gains maximum leverage from the Grow Dublin Tourism Alliance, established under Failte Ireland. “We will be working with all relevant agencies and with the tourism industry to promote Fingal, develop new and better marketing campaigns to attract new visitors to the county”. He also underlined that Fingal County Council will be taking a more ambitious and proactive approach to developing tourism within the county “We’ll be addressing the key challenges set out in the strategy but also building on the strengths and assets that Fingal has in abundance”.
Destination Fingal – Fingal Tourism Strategy 2015-2018 is available at: http://www.fingalcoco.ie/business-and-economy/tourisminfingal/
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