Cork City Council reaped huge economic benefit for its investment in the city's hosting of European Capital of Culture in 2005 with the designation resulting in increased tourist revenues of €90 million, according to Cork city manager Joe Gavin.
Mr Gavin said the increase in tourist revenue stemmed from a 36 per cent increase in visitor numbers to Cork in 2005 over similar figures for 2003. The comparable national figures showed just a seven per cent increase over the same period.
"We saw increase in tourism revenues of €90 million in 2005, compared to 2003, which given that Cork City Council and Cork 2005 invested some €13 million in the project, is a good return in anyone's language," said Mr Gavin.
Mr Gavin was speaking at the launch by Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Michael Ahern of two reports commissioned by the council on the economic and cultural benefits of the city's hosting of the European Capital of Culture in 2005.
The first report, by Dr Richard Moloney of the Centre for Policy Studies at University College Cork, found that tourism was worth €389 million and supported 2,456 full-time job equivalents (FJE) in Cork city in 2005. The report, An Economic Assessment of the Contribution of Tourism to Cork City, also found that tourism in Cork's hinterland area, including towns like Blarney, Cobh, Kinsale and Midleton, was worth a further €160 million and supported a further 727 FJEs.
Dr Moloney found that 1.22 million people visited heritage centres in 2005, with 347,500 of these going to six city attractions. Ten major festivals in the city attracted 200,000 visitors, of whom 60,000 were from abroad or elsewhere in Ireland.
These festivals generated €18 million in revenues for the area as well as €6.5 million indirectly and supported 100 full-time equivalent jobs. Cruise ship business was worth €26.4 million and conference business was worth over €13 million.
Visitor numbers to Cork in 2005 were 1,005,000 higher than in 2003, a 33.4 per cent increase, while revenues were up from €324 million in 2003 to €414 million in 2005, a €90 million or 28 per cent increase.
Visitor numbers also reflected "the changing nature of tourist activity such as the increased demand for short city breaks", Dr Moloney added.
A second report on the cultural benefits of Cork 2005 found that the designation was a boost for the city's cultural sectors in several ways, although it did recognise that there were areas where the designation could have been more fully exploited. According to authors Dr Bernadette Quinn and Elaine O'Halloran of Dublin Institute of Technology, 33 cultural organisations surveyed in Cork experienced an increase in audience numbers compared to previous years.
The report, Cork 2005: An Analysis of Emerging Cultural Legacies, also found most cultural groups had forged new links and improved their confidence in their abilities, while many said if they had funding available, they would make their Cork 2005 project a regular feature.
The authors single out Corcadorca's Relocations programme of public street theatre as a particular success, but they found that large-scale outdoor civic events with a widespread popular appeal were regarded by most respondents as being too scarce.
"Many respondents argued that the programme lacked 'signature' events that not only signalled the start of the year but that punctuated it throughout the 12 months," said the authors, adding there was also a feeling that some of the programme was too specialist.