Tourism forum hears of joint initiatives
ROBERTSON Hall in Wells House and Gardens was full to capacity last week for a tourism forum hosted by Wexford Local Development.
Titled ‘Exploring Tourism Opportunities in Wexford’, the afternoon included informative talks from industry experts from across the south east.
In attendance was Madeleine Quirke, former CEO of
Wexford Chamber; Sabine
Rosler, proprietor of Wells
House; Alan Boardman,
Blackwater Eco Tours; Ken
Walsh, Brandon Hill Camping; Liam Griffin, Griffin
Hotel Group; Tony Ennis,
Ennis & Co; Aileen Dowling,
Failte Ireland; Brian Kehoe,
CEO of Wexford Local development; Tom Banville,
Head of Enterprise, Wexford
County Council; and Billy
Byrne, Tourism development
Officer with Wexford County
Council.
Mr Griffin spoke of the importance of working with neighbouring counties to promote the region. He welcomed the current collaboration between Wexford, Kilkenny and Waterford developing greenways and blueways as a means of attracting visitors. He believes they will be ‘game changers’ for the region.
Ms Rosler of Wells House outlined how, since opening in 2012, they have gone from strength to strength attracting in excess of 120,000 visitors last year. She outlined the important role that WLD and LEADER had as well as Wexford County Council and Failte Ireland in their development.
All speakers agreed that Wexford needs to improve to attract overseas visitors. They agreed targeted overseas marketing coupled with continued development of the small and large visitor attractions will remain their focus.