CEO weekly diary #33: Feeding rhinos, Cork’s food scene, Allez les bleus
3 days in Cork this week. Our one good day of weather allowed a visit to Fota Wildlife Park which was a memorable experience as we got a behind the scenes tour - not every day you get to pet a giraffe or feed a rhino. I think the girls will expect this on every zoo visit now 🙈. We were also shown Fota’s brand new conference facilities on site. Very impressive they were too offering, within a truly unique setting (no boring hotel function room this), a state-of-the-art meeting space for corporates and events. Critically, and cleverly too, a new revenue channel for Fota to complement their regular income of ticket sales, merchandise and catering.
The weather for the rest of our stay wasn’t particularly kind. It did give us the chance to enjoy the city’s food scene. The English Market is fabulous (and how Dublin hasn’t restored one of its Victorian fruit and veg markets is beyond me) and we really enjoyed Marina Market, a disused warehouse on the docks which is now a foodie mecca.
Cork has a lot going for it from a visitor perspective - vibrant, cultured, its own airport, and plenty of good restaurants and accommodation. I’m a Dub of course but happy to state publicly that our 2nd city gives us a good run for our money 😜
Back at the desk in latter part of the week and was on a call with Tourism Ireland with French trade partners to get a feel for how Ireland’s 4th largest source market sees the year ahead. The recurring themes of a shortage of accommodation and heightened costs but overall the mood was positive with good sea and air access indicators. Is this the year when the French market will leapfrog the German market in terms of value to Irish tourism? Allez les bleus…
