Sligo seeing impact of Brexit - in more ways than one
BUSINESSES in Sligo are feeling the effects of Brexit already, but it’s not all bad news.
The weaker sterling means that fewer tourists are travelling from Northern Ireland to the South, and it was noticed by businesses during the week of the 12 th of July - usually a busy week with visitors from Northern Ireland travelling across the border in their numbers.
Des Faul of Cafe Fleur says it’s not the end of the world, but it is a worrying trend.
“With the weakened sterling it’s costing these tourists around 15% more to come here. So we noticed there were a lot less tourists from the North here last week,” said Mr. Faul.
“It’s not a disaster, we had a really good 2014/15/16. We opened in 2007 so we have never really seen magnificent times. Now we’re not out of the woods yet,” he added.
He says we need to start dipping into the European market, and even in the South and East of Ireland.
“We’re still a good value destination. We have to look into new markets like continental Europe. Brexit has really galvanised the fact that we have to do something different,” he added.
But it’s not all bad news. A major London medical summit is moving to Sligo – as a direct result of Brexit. Some 200 po- diatrists, mainly from London and the rest of the UK, are to attend the event.
The Firefly Summit 2017: Podiatric MSK (musculoskeletal) has previously been held in London but this year, will move to Sligo in the North West of Ireland. Firefly, a premium custom-made orthoses company, made the decision to move the summit to Sligo as a result of the impact Brexit was having on its business. And already it has double the amount of attendees on the last time it was held in London.
“When sterling started devaluating on the back of the Brexit announcement, our margins were way down. We have managed to survive – but only just about. We had to decide how we were going to respond to it,” Martin McGeough, Firefly’s founder and medical director.