COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, September 22, 2014

QUESTION NO. 21

QUESTION: Councillor D. Looney

To ask the Manager to provide an update on tourism promotion in the County, and to state how plans to support and increase tourism will be developed in the time ahead?

REPLY:

A Tourism Interests Working sub Group of the Economic, Enterprise and Tourism Development SPC has been established and met in late August.

The group comprises industry representatives and local Councillors. A brief for the engagement of consultants to conduct a full Tourism Strategy for the County has been finalised. This will form the basis for Tourism action plan for the period 2015-2018.

The request for tenders for this strategy has been published on etenders and tenders are to be submitted by companies up to Oct 17th. Following an evaluation of the submitted tenders in line with public procurement procedures, it is envisaged that consultants will be appointed in late October with a view to immediately beginning the process of drafting a Tourism strategy for the County.

The intention is that during Q1 2015 the strategy will be finalised and the Working Group will develop and present a Tourism Action Plan prepared including marketing and branding for the County as a Tourism destination based on the market segments and opportunities indentified.

A number of specific items are ongoing in this matter, including establishing an inventory of tourism products to create an online Tourism map (and website search engine) of the County, a full promotional photography survey to promote the County is being prepared and wayfinding signage is being commissioned. Discussions are ongoing between Fáilte Ireland and the other Dublin authorities on joint actions in promotion and other initiatives.

South Dublin County Tourism Ltd also continues to market the County and in particular to source events for the County to leverage visits and increase occupancy in local hotels to the benefit of employment and the local economy generally.