Stakeholders hears plans to boost Cavan tourism

Most people in Cavan are well aware of what their local areas have to offer but work is progressing on plans to better coordinate and market the county to people within and outside of the area.

Cavan’s tourism trade gathered in the county town last week in a bid to kickstart the tourist season. The networking and collaboration event was held by Cavan County Council in partnership with the Tourism Steering Group, a body made up of members of the tourism trade.

The first in-person meeting held since 2019, the meeting offered a chance for tourism businesses of all sorts to meet ahead of what’s hoped to be a strong season as the sector has fully reopened.

“Five years ago, we developed a strategy based around the growth of tourism in our county,” said Cavan County Council chief executive Tommy Ryan.

“The three pillars we focused on were destination development, trade development and marketing our destination. Everyone has a role to play in actioning this strategy and the best way to do it is by collaboration.”

‘Created in Cavan’, the county’s tourism brand launched in 2019, aims to coordinate events and festivals in Cavan, as well as marketing the county’s offerings. Its food strategy coordinator Patricia Smith encouraged people and businesses to get involved: “I would invite any Cavan food producer, hospitality business or food retail business to join our growing network and get involved in what is set to be a very exciting year for Cavan food.”

Work has been ongoing on a number of tourism developments across County Cavan. The 5km Ballyconnell to Ballyheady trail along the Woodford River was officially opened last month, with planning work underway on a number of other projects.

Joanne Hayes, Tourism Officer for Cavan, updated attendees on the ongoing work, including the Killykeen Greenway, the development of the urban greenway in Cavan Town and the multi-million euro investment in the Shannon Pot Discovery Centre and Cavan Burren Park.

She also set out objectives for the future of Cavan tourism, including the growth of the network and its capacity, cross promotion of different businesses and facilities within the county, ongoing investment and a new tourism strategy to launch in 2023.

Attendees were said to have left the meeting “feeling motivated for the summer season ahead with an invigorated sense of community”.

The Tourism Steering Group is made up of a number of stakeholders in the sector and is chaired by Tony Walker, manager of the Slieve Russell Hotel, Ballyconnell.

Cavan was recently united under the Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands brand from Fáilte Ireland. Previously it was split between it and Ireland’s Ancient East. It’s now hoped this will result in a more unified approach to marketing the county at home and abroad.

The stakeholder meeting also heard from regional development officer with Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands Sarah McCarthy, who outlined the strategic objectives for Cavan and surrounding counties going forward. These include raising awareness, developing the region, increasing the length of stay of visitors and establishing the region as a leading regenerative tourism destination.

Ad campaign

Sarah also had some good news for some local destinations, which are to feature in an upcoming ad campaign:

“We will also be featuring local activity providers from Cavan Adventure Centre and Carafin Activity park shortly as part of a new ad for Hidden Heartlands. Both attractions will create a great draw to the county and other businesses should collaborate with them to capitalise on the promotion.”

Anyone hoping to list their tourism or hospitality business on the 'This is Cavan' website is asked to contact fun@thisiscavan.ie . To become a member of the Created in Cavan Network contact Patricia on info@createdincavan.ie