Fáilte Ireland Workshops – ‘Tasty’ new initiative

Fáilte Ireland is inviting pubs, bars and restaurants as well as similar businesses and individuals interested in providing tourists with a food or drink experience to attend workshops in their local area and find out how they can get involved in its new initiative – ‘Taste the Island' – a celebration of Ireland’s food and drink’ taking place this Autumn.

The new initiative has been developed by Fáilte Ireland in collaboration with Tourism Ireland, Tourism Northern Ireland and a range of stakeholders in response to the growing global interest in food and drink.

Taste the Island aims to showcase Ireland’s burgeoning food and drink culture across the island of Ireland in the September to November shoulder period to provide visitors with access to authentic high quality local ingredients and world-class Irish food and drink produce and experiences. The extensive programme, running over three months, seeks to create an awareness and renewed appreciation at home and abroad of the strength and richness of Ireland’s cuisine today.

Workshops are being rolled out throughout the country, from Donegal to Limerick and from Athlone to Dingle, to inform the local food and drink industry about this initiative for providers of food and drink.

The workshops have been organised for the industry to learn more. It will also provide participants with the opportunity to shape the development of a programme of events and experiences for 2019.

A new Toolkit guide on how the industry can deliver world-class food and drink experiences has been developed for these workshops.

“We’re urging people in the food and drink industry throughout Ireland to get involved and participate in our upcoming workshops in your area,”said Martina Kerr Bromley, Fáilte Ireland’s Head of Enterprise Development, “The programme of events for Taste the Island will include visits to food producers, distillers and brewers, food trails, food festivals, participation in traditional skills, opportunities to forage, traditional pubs, small-town cafés, restaurants, city bistros and Michelin-starred experiences.”

This initiative supports Fáilte Ireland’s strategic imperative to address seasonality and grow revenue by driving increased bed night numbers outside the Summer season while also driving visitors to explore lesser-known locations across the country and will, in the long term, enhance Ireland’s international food and drink reputation before tourists actually arrive here.

“We’ve done the research and know that in order to respond to the rapid growth in travel today and increasing visitor expectations around food and drink, an initiative of scale is required to maximise our full potential in all areas,” commented Fáilte Ireland’s Food Strategy Manager Tracey Coughlan of the initiative, “The international competition is intense; if we want to ensure that the tourism industry capitalises fully, this initiative will have to grow on a sustained annual basis.”

The workshops will teach attendees how to leverage the opportunities that the Taste the Island campaign will provide for businesses.

Expert advice on ways to offer local food and drink experiences to visitors will be available and businesses can actively participate in shaping the 2019/20 marketing campaign and event programme.

Businesses or events interested in this new initiative are invited to come along to the workshops to hear more details on how tourism can play a role in their business.

Information on Fáilte Ireland’s food & drink business support programmes will also be available.

 

Workshop Details:

DATE	TIME	COUNTY	LOCATION
Tuesday 7th May	9.30 – 2pm	Donegal	Harvey’s Point
Wednesday 8th May	8.00 – 11am	Dublin	Croke Park
Thursday 9th May	9.30 – 2pm	Mayo	Breaffy House Hotel
Monday 13th May	9.30 – 2pm	Meath	Headfort Arms Hotel
Tuesday 14th May	9.30 – 2pm	Limerick	The Strand Hotel
Wednesday 15th May	9.30 – 2pm	West Cork	Celtic Ross Hotel
Thursday 16th May	9.30 – 2pm	Kerry	Great Southern Hotel
Friday 17th May	10.30 – 3pm	Dingle	Dingle Benners Hotel
Monday 20th May	9.30 – 2pm	Cork City	The River Lee Hotel
Tuesday 21st May	9.30 – 2pm	Waterford	Faithlegg Hotel
Wednesday 22nd May	9.30 – 2pm	Kilkenny	Newpark Hotel
Thursday 23rd May	9.30 – 2pm	Carlow	Woodford Dolmen Hotel
Tuesday 28th May	9.30 – 2pm	Clare	Hotel Doolin
Wednesday 29th May	9.30 – 2pm	Sligo	Radisson Blu
Thursday 30th May	9.30 – 2pm	Galway	The Twelve Hotel
Thursday June 6th	9.30 – 2pm	Carraig-on-Shannon	Kilronan Castle, Roscommon
Tuesday 11th June	9.30 – 2pm	Athlone	Dead Centre Brewing
Thursday 13th June	9.30 – 2pm	Lough Derg	The Lakeside Hotel, Killaloe

 

RSVP details: e-mail: CustomerSupport@failteireland.ie 

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