THE month of May was as busy as the high-season month of July in Bantry, according to the local business association.
Danielle Delaney, chairperson of the organisation said they had an extremely busy May, which got the tourism season off to a very successful start, and all signs currently point to that trend continuing.
The weather was naturally a great help in attracting visitors to the town, she said, but so too is all that it has to offer from accommodation, activities, food and its natural beauty.
‘Coming up we have our chamber music festival at the end of June, the literary festival in July and the masters of tradition festival in August, along with other world-class events that take place in our hotels and venues locally,’ said Danielle.
Already, there’s been an influx of domestic, European and American visitors visit what’s regarded as West Cork’s cruise capital.
‘We’ll have 14 cruises this year. Passengers will get to visit the likes of Mizen, Glengarriff, Bantry House, Whiddy and other spots and they usually then spend an afternoon back in town. We’re also starting to see return visitors – people who got a taste of Bantry when they visited on a cruise and have then come back to experience more, which is brilliant,’ said Danielle, who runs the Brick Oven in the town.
She also highlighted the opportunities Bantry Bay presents in terms of fishing charters, kayaking, paddle boats etc.
‘The bay was underutilised until a few years ago but it’s great to see so much happening there now,’ she said.
