Good Food Ireland has launched a new dimension to its offering which aims to drive tourism for Irish farmers and food producers – ‘Good Food Ireland Experiences’.
The new online service available on the Good Food Ireland website allows food lovers to browse experiences by date, destination or simply by the food experience they would like to explore.
The site allows users to book the experience or series of experiences directly and receive immediate confirmation.
Drive sales
Good Food Ireland said it is the first Irish network to create a commercial online platform to drive sales for farmers and food producers looking to tourism to increase their revenue.
This can be through the development of visitor growth to their farm, increase of farm gate sales and the creation of new routes to market export opportunities.
Founder of Good Food Ireland, Margaret Jeffares, said that tourism expectation around food and drink is changing. “Most tourists are seeking out quality and local food and drink offerings that represent the places they go to.
10% of tourists to Ireland are food enthusiasts, with 80% motivated by food satisfaction. This makes a strong business case for growth in the agri food sector, especially the artisan sector and SMEs.
“Good Food Ireland’s strict published criteria and assessment around local food provenance now brings Irish ingredient-led food and drink experiences to tourists on one platform.”
Experiences are diverse, with a focus on agri food initiatives including: a blackcurrant and horse breeding farm tour, Wexford; an organic farm visit, also in Wexford; a brewhouse tour and tasting on a dairy farm in Monaghan; goats’ cheese making on a family farm in Cork; and bee keeping in Galway.
Good Food Ireland is a network that directs food lovers around the island to great food offerings from restaurants, pubs and cafés to good food places to stay.
Users experience local Irish food, meet the people behind the fare and learn about Ireland’s culinary culture. Now with new food and drink experiences online, visitors can simply explore, choose and book directly.
The objective, Margaret said, is to expand the range over the coming weeks as new best-in-class experiences are discovered around the island.
“Over the last 14 years, our customers have come to trust Good Food Ireland, knowing that they will get a genuine authentic experience from passionate like-minded people and places committed to using local produce.
“This is why we have standards and only those businesses that are assessed, based on strict published criteria around the provenance of their food and excellence of their product, join the Good Food Ireland Collection,” she said.