Kinsale is moving ahead at pace with their Comeback Plan announced in early May and have now put in place a series of plans that they hope will get the town’s economy moving.
Having already confirmed free parking in the town up to the end of August, from June 29th visitors to Kinsale and the local residents will be able to enjoy street dining around the town, as Cork County Council have agreed for car spaces to be captured by businesses for on street dining. This will make up for the lost space inside many cafés and restaurants due to social distancing and create on street Al Fresco dining for the summer months, a potentially spectacular image on a fine summer sunny day in Kinsale.
On top of this a number of streets will be pedestrianised for the summer with Short Quay being closed off to traffic 7 days a week and Main Street and Market Street every Sunday. This has opened the door for the creation of the ‘Kinsale Family Fun Day’ every Sunday in Kinsale, where families will be encouraged to park up the car and enjoy Kinsale’s narrow winding streets, cafés and boutiques without the concern or pollution of traffic passing them by. Street deep cleaning and sanitisation has already begun in advance of the street takeover.
The Kinsale Comeback Campaign has ambitious plans over the coming months as it launches a very targeted and carefully thought out phased marketing campaign as the town opens and various markets open up to travel again.
Kinsale even managed to secure the services of global pandemic recovery expert, formerly of the World Health Organisation, Dr Ian Norton, who specialises in post crisis recovery. There are some very ambitious and exciting plans including a full rebrand of the town and also a newly designed website www.kinsale.ie which gets over 700,000 hits per annum.
Kinsale retailers opened up on Monday and are reporting very strong trade and support in the first week of opening and there has now been a GoFundMe campaign announced for the Kinsale Comeback Campaign, with a view to getting the entire community behind this campaign. Next to open their doors will be the town’s famous restaurants and cafés, known all over the world for their great food. Many of these famous restaurants have kept busy during the lockdown and each weekend took turns in opening up their kitchens to cook for the elderly and vulnerable in the Kinsale Community as part of the Kinsale Covid 19 Volunteer Group initiative, now they refocus their attention on opening back up to a very changed hospitality landscape.
Kinsale has always worked with an ethos of a rising tide lifts all boats and they have now spread their wings to work in conjunction with Westport and other locations to create the ideal Wild Atlantic Way 2020 Adventure which will be announced soon as the substitute to the family foreign holiday this year.
Kinsale is represented on and working closely with newly formed Cork Tourism Taskforce as part of the national recovery plan and is playing a central role in determining the key priorities for Tourism in the changed landscape ahead and shaping that recovery in conjunction with other tourism bodies around the country.
Everyone in the town has weighed in behind the campaign including internationally acclaimed Kinsale based artist Philip Gray, who has recently created an original painting of Kinsale titled “Community Spirit”, which is now being launched as an exclusive worldwide limited edition, with the funds raised going directly to the Kinsale Comeback Campaign and each of the purchasers of the 95 limited prints being put in a draw to win the original oil painting worth over €8,000. Now that’s what you call getting behind your town!
