Susan organised and led the tour to Portsmouth on behalf of Fáilte Ireland (the Irish Tourism Development Authority). A handpicked group of senior managers and councillors from Cork visited the Portsmouth Historic Docklands, Fort Nelson and Southsea Castle as well as walking the Millennium Trail.
Like Portsmouth, Cork has a rich maritime heritage. The purpose of this visit was to learn from Portsmouth’s experience and example of creating a sustainable heritage tourism product that involves many partners. We worked, and played, hard in three action-packed days of activity and discussion.
The discussions about visitors, attractions, tourism, guns and ships lasted well into the night and began again over breakfast. The delegates not only learned from Portsmouth, from the formal sessions and the visiting speakers but began to identify projects and potential for working together back in Cork.
