Tourism a path to industry

THE promotion of cultural events and festivals in the town will not only benefit tourism but could also lead to more manufacturing companies setting up in Ennis, according to the new president of Ennis Chamber, Brian O’Neill.
Brian, who runs the award-winning Rowan Tree Café and Hostel, recently took over the chain of office from former president John Dillane.
“I have a different perspective to John having come from the tourism sector but I am conscious of all aspects of business, including manufacturing. I think that by promoting Ennis and making it a better place to live, with different cultural events on during the year, makes it a more attractive place for manufacturing companies to come to Ennis, as they would think it’s a better place for their staff to live,” he said.
Looking forward to his term, Brian explained, “The presidency is for one year, which doesn’t give you a whole lot of time to do a lot but I feel that my focus will be on Ennis claiming its right as a destination town rather than as somewhere to pass through.
“The Lonely Planet have recommended Ennis as a good base for visiting the county and most places in Clare can be got to in a short amount of time from Ennis. My focus is going to be to promote that more and to promote Ennis as a good place to live and work and a friendly town, which it is. One of the key things for me this year will be to get that out there both nationally and internationally and raise the positive perception of Ennis.”
As well as being president of the Chamber, Brian is also chairman of the Promote Ennis committee, so he is no stranger to boosting the town’s profile.
“Obviously I can’t change the economic climate but I feel that with the steering of the Chamber here in Ennis, if all aspects of the community work together, we can do an awful lot for Ennis town. It won’t happen overnight but all small initiatives help such as the Christmas video that was viewed by nearly 25,000 people.”
Taking his cue from the success of the Christmas video, Brian says he sees “huge opportunities” for Ennis in social media. “This would be very important in the modernisation of Ennis as a brand, using social media such as Twitter and Facebook and not just for short videos. People say they don’t like Facebook but online is where businesses are going to access their customers and potential customers. It’s all online at the moment.”
According to Brian, while businesses continue to be challenged, he believes the tourism market has “turned a corner” and that Ennis as a whole can benefit from this.
His own business has scooped a FBD Business Excellence Award and has been named best hostel in Ireland for the third year in-a-row. “This is good for tourism and for Ennis,” he said. In another bid to boost tourism, Brian pledged support for weekend events in the town. “We would all love to see more festivals in Ennis and we should be promoting weekend activities such as the street festival and the book club festival. Anything we can do to promote and assist any of these festival committees I think would be key for the Chamber. The Chamber itself won’t be running any festivals but definitely if there are any people out there who want to run weekend, family-orientated events, then we would like to assist.
“It doesn’t have to be a huge festival, family days are the way forward. We have a baby boom going on in Ireland at the moment and people in business have to focus on the family market, it’s huge. A lot of Irish people will be staying at home in Ireland for their holidays this year so we need to promote and make things available for them.”
Brian believes the renewal of the Visit Ennis brochure by Promote Ennis will help attract more visitors to the town. “We’re taking it in a different direction this time. In conjunction with Ennis being a destination town, we are putting routes with suggested day trips to other parts of the county. We will also have top tips for Ennis, including a lot of attractions that don’t cost money to go to. For instance, walks around Lees Road and the river walk, Tim Smythe Park and the farmers’ market.”
Brian is also involved in the development of Purple Flag status for Ennis, an award for the creation of a safe night-time environment.
“I believe that the Purple Flag would be very beneficial to the town. It will take a bit of time to get through the process but I believe it will work,” he said.
Speaking about business in general in Ennis, he acknowledged, “This year is going to be a very challenging one for a lot of businesses in Ennis, there is no doubt about it.”
However, he added, “With the support of the local community in shopping local, the businesses that are struggling will survive and they may be able to create more jobs for people living locally. That has to be the key. If local people support local businesses, there is a possibility for job creation and that has to be a huge focus. If the people of Ennis and Clare pull together, we can come out of this recession quicker than other towns and counties. I do think that that is happening, people do realise this.
“I’m not saying that people have to do all their shopping in Ennis but if they just think about it and if something is available locally, to try and purchase it locally. If they do that, there is a possibility of job creation and it might be their brother, cousin, or their friend that might get a job out of a seemingly small purchase here in Ennis. All the small purchases all add up and make a big difference at the end of the day.
“In the tourism and hospitality sector if we, not necessarily bring more people here, but if we can keep the people who are coming here for an extra night, then there is the potential for them to spend more money around the town.
“In recessions, there are opportunities for new businesses. We opened in the middle of a recession and it has been tough and it still is tough but there are new businesses, which will open. There are a few new businesses opening around town now.”
He praised the “huge strides” made by his predecessor John Dillane during his term as president and he acknowledged the good communication between the Chamber and local authorities.
“We have very positive meetings with them. For instance, the Christmas initiatives with the parking incentives, these all came from meetings between the Chamber and the town council, mayor and officials, where we worked together to come up with initiatives that would be beneficial to the businesses and people of the town.” He added that he is looking forward to working with the council on further initiatives throughout the year.
He insisted Ennis Chamber is open to all businesses to become members. “I feel it is very beneficial to be a member because of the access to information, networking opportunities and training. The Chamber isn’t for any particular business, it’s for all,” he concluded.