Fáilte Ireland is looking for new festival ideas that have the potential to motivate people to visit both Ireland's Hidden Heartlands and the region of the Wild Atlantic Way north of Galway city, taking in Sligo, Mayo and Donegal.
The national tourism development authority believes that festivals are a key driver of tourism growth, particularly outside of traditional tourism hotspots.
"Critical For Growth In The Tourism Sector"
Fáilte Ireland's head of festivals Ciara Sugrue stated, "Festivals motivate over 200,000 overseas visitors to come to Ireland every year and are critical for growth in the tourism sector. Not only do they give visitors to Ireland a unique opportunity to experience the very best of our culture, people and places, they boost revenue and create jobs in local communities. We aim to grow the number of overseas visitors coming to Ireland to attend a festival to 300,000 by 2022, generating an estimated €150 million in revenue.
"Research into Fáilte Ireland funded festivals shows that almost 60% of overseas visitors attend festivals outside Dublin. A new high impact festival of international standing would be transformative for [these regions], attracting both domestic and international visitors. Over the coming months, we are hoping to identify festival ideas or themes with the potential to encourage visitors to not only come to [Ireland's Hidden Heartlands and the Wild Atlantic Way], but really engage with the essence and story of [these regions]."
Fáilte Ireland is inviting anyone with ideas to submit them to www.failteireland.ie/IHH-festival-ideas for Ireland's Hidden Heartlands or www.failteireland.ie/WAW-festival-ideas for the Wild Altantic Way.
The evaluation process will involve a screening and feasibility study.
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