A call to work together in the promotion of Athlone tourism

The president of Athlone Chamber of Commerce has said those in the local tourism and hospitality sector must work together. The comments by Aengus O"Rourke came last Thursday at the launch of a new brochure designed to promote hotels in the Athlone area. Entitled "Finest Hotels In And Around Athlone", the brochure was produced by the Athlone Chamber, the Athlone.ie website and Westmeath Tourism. 'This is a very important step for the tourism sector in the town, and the chamber hopes it"s the first step in many initiatives in this regard,' said Mr O"Rourke. 'Working together in the current economic climate will be critical for tourism and hospitality businesses to help them meet the challenges of 2009. 'It is important that we all pool our resources and use our collective wisdom to work together and promote the town. We have common objectives; we all want people to visit the town, spend money in our shops, eat in our restaurants and pubs, use taxis, go to clubs, enjoy our activities and stay in our hotels making the town economically vibrant,' he said. Cllr Frankie Keena, chairman of Athlone.ie, said the brochure showcased the range, variety and quality of accommodation in Athlone. 'By working together like this can give you the exposure the town desperately needs and highlights the fact that we are now in a perfect position to attract many of the larger business conferences to the town that heretofore went to the towns and cities with the larger bed numbers. By working together we will keep the edge over other towns in an increasingly competitive environment.' John Dully, Chairman, County Westmeath Tourism Ltd added: 'It is clear that 2009 and 2010 will be very challenging years for Westmeath tourism and the home market will be particularly important in sustaining employment in this sector. Given this, the idea of local networks where tourism businesses come together with the chamber and athlone.ie to seize the opportunities is an excellent one that County Westmeath Tourism Ltd is driving.' Mr O"Rourke concluded: 'There are a growing number of positive examples of small, medium and large individual tourism and hospitality businesses coming together to work to their mutual benefit rather than simply going it alone. For instance, the impact of a combined marketing campaign for a particular destination will be far greater if it has the support of all local stakeholders rather than each doing their own thing with smaller budgets and reduced impact.' The new brochure has been used to encourage people to stay in Athlone for the RTE All Ireland Drama Festival and the Community Games, and it will also be used for promotion around the triAthlone event in July. In addition, it is to be promoted online by Athlone.ie and www.discoverireland.ie/westmeath