1 July 2016
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
Cork will take centre stage this week as a group of top German journalists who have a combined circulation and online readership of over 6 million will get to see for themselves what the south west has to offer. The press trip, South West Gardens, was organised by Fáilte Ireland in conjunction with Tourism Ireland and provides a great opportunity to highlight a number of Cork’s amazing gardens and things to do along the Wild Atlantic Way with the hope that it will inspire their readers to choose Ireland, and indeed Cork, as their next holiday destination.
Recent figures from the CSO (Central Statistics Office) show that visitor numbers from Germany grew by 10% for the period covering February to April 2016 to Ireland. Fáilte Ireland have identified that the German market is most suited to what makes the Culturally Curious visitor tick, by providing great dining and cultural experiences in order to increase visitor numbers to Ireland.
Ciara Sugrue, Head of International Publicity with Fáilte Ireland, welcomed the journalists to Cork and said:
“Welcoming media, such as this group, to our shores plays a big part in ensuring that Cork is on the map when it comes to potential German visitors – we hope they will persuade their many readers to come to visit us in the not too distant future and enjoy all that an Irish holiday has to offer.”
During their stay this week, Fáilte Ireland designed a bespoke itinerary to give the journalists a first-hand experience of Cork, highlights include a visit to Mill Cove Gardens to meet with John Brennan and get a tour of the garden grounds which overlook the sea; see the wonderful Ewe Gardens, Glengarriff where Art meets landscape; explore Pip’s Garden which was created by artist Pip Biagi followed by lunch at the Heron Gallery café in Ahakista; meet with head gardener Tony O’Mahoney at Inis Beg Gardens in Baltimore; visit Glenview Gardens, at Enniskeane created by David and Mary Tanner over the past 25 years; participate in a cookery demonstration at Good Things Café and Cookery School in Skibbereen with chef Carmel Somers; see Beechwood Gardens in Glanmire home of Ned and Liz Kirby; finishing with a tour of Mardyke Gardens at Fitzgerald’s Park in Cork with Liam Casey, senior executive parks superintendent.
