Limerick Hurling captain, Donal O’Grady, Eoghan Prendergast, Head of the Limerick Marketing Company and Laura Roughneen, Fashion Student at the announcement of the Limerick Marketing Company at the Clarion Hotel, Limerick.
Pic Sean Curtin Photo.
A NEWLY established marketing company aims to double the number of visits by tourists and investors to Limerick within five years.The Limerick Marketing Company has been described by Limerick local authorities manager Conn Murray as “the next step in terms of promoting Limerick city and Limerick county and the region itself”.
The local authorities have committed €350,000 in seed funding to attract private sector involvement to rebrand Limerick’s image through social media and smart technology. The new entity will be headed up by former Shannon Development regional manager Eoghan Prendergast who said it would be based on the model employed in Manchester which is now the second most visited city in the UK.
“Thanks to the internet and mobile solutions, there is an enormous global audience just seconds away and we will be devising smart platforms to tell the collective Limerick story like it’s never been told before”, he said.
Instead of trying to use the many disparate groups to meet the challenges facing the city and county, Mr Murray said that more could be achieved by pooling local resources in the run up to next year’s City of Culture event.Expressing the hope that a major international festival would emerge from the City of Culture, he said that the scenes at Thomond Park and the Gaelic Grounds in recent weeks had demonstrated what Limerick has to offer and its capacity to attract something big.
The creation of the company is one of three key pillars of Limerick 2030, the economic and spatial plan aimed at delivering the economic, social and physical renaissance of the city and county.
Mr Murray said the company will have a pivotal role in the re-emergence of Limerick.“The Limerick Marketing Company will be all about getting more people into Limerick. That ranges from more potential investors, more tourists, more students and more people to work, holiday, live and study here,” he said.
“For example, from a tourism perspective, Limerick had 383,000 overseas visitors alone in 2011, generating revenue of €143 million. We want to double that and do even more with the domestic market within five years.
“The same target applies to potential visits; we want to double, and more, the number of itinerary visits to Limerick of Foreign Direct Investment companies.”
