The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Kerry festivals get €111k funding boost
A NUMBER of festivals and events in Kerry were last week earmarked to receive a cut of the €111,000 set aside for Kerry by Fáilte Ireland.
The announcement was made by Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Brendan Griffin TD, who welcomed the news as a “welcome start to 2019”.
The aim of the funding is to help further enhance and promote the selected festivals.
The breakdown of the funding for Kerry is as follows:
• Listowel Writers Week: €30,000
• Ireland Bikefest Killarney: €12,000
• Rose of Tralee: €30,000
• Other Voices: €15,000
• Dingle Marathon: €10,000
• Quest: €14,000 Killarney was also identified as one of the locations for the development of celebrations for ‘St Patrick’s Week in Ireland’.
Fáilte Ireland has stated that festivals and events such as these are critical for tourism growth in the country as they specifically attract more than 200,000 overseas visitors to Ireland and contribute €108million to the economy every year.
Fáilte Ireland identified festivals as a key component for tourism growth, particularly during off-season times in its plans for 2019.
“With many challenges on the horizon for tourism, today’s announcement is a welcome start to 2019,” said Minister Griffin TD.
“Not only do festivals and events play an important role in delivering brilliant visitor experiences, they often encourage people to visit areas outside of traditional tourism hotspots and outside of peak times, helping to spread the benefits of tourism to communities throughout Ireland,”
“I’m delighted to see Fáilte Ireland focusing on St Patrick’s Day across the country – there is massive opportunity there to attract overseas visitors to locations outside Dublin,” Minister Griffin added.
“Fáilte Ireland is very much committed to a greater spread of regional activity as well as supporting a longer tourism year,” Fáilte Ireland CEO Paul Kelly said.
“Festivals – which can take place anywhere and at any time of the year – are very much a part of this focus on greater regionality and seasonality,” he added.