GUINNESS CORK JAZZ FESTIVAL - 28 – 31 OCTOBER
Over 40,000 people are expected to descend on Cork City for the Guinness Jazz Festival next weekend.
There are over 1,000 musicians from 20 countries participating and the festival includes an extensive fringe programme and live music trails. There will also be free music sessions in venue across the city right throughout the weekend.
Retailers are asked to dress their windows up with a jazz theme and add to the festive atmosphere in the city.
Cork Business Association welcomes the Free Parking Promotion which will run this year from October 11th until November 18th. This promotion is designed to promote and support the city's economy to assist in generating additional footfall and increased consumer spend. To encourage customers to visit in the run up to Christmas by showcasing what a vibrant and attractive place Cork city is to visit, dine and shop. This free parking promotion will run for six weeks commencing on October 11th.
North Main Street Car Park
Free parking for 2 hours from 10:00 to noon Monday to Thursday inclusive.
Paul Street Car Park
Free parking for 2 hours from 10:00 to noon Monday to Thursday inclusive.
Free parking fir late night shoppers on Thursday and Friday 18:30 to midnight.
Black Ash park and ride
Free parking all day each Saturday from 15th October to 19th November
New scheduled route and new scheduled airline partner at Cork Airport for 2017
Cork Business Association welcomes today’s news that Volotea, the Spanish low cost carrier and new airline to the region, is to operate a new scheduled service to from Cork to Verona for 2017, Italy– the home of Romeo and Juliet.
The new Cork Airport –Verona-Villafranca Airport service, which commences in June 2017, will operate weekly through the summer season until September.
Volotea will fly a Boeing 717 on the route, adding 4,600 seats to the schedule of services from Munster next year. The news comes on foot of the recent World Routes aviation event, which took place in China where a team from Cork Airport met with a number of airlines to discuss potential opportunities for the region.
CBA Chief Executive Lawrence Owens said "This is a further boost not alone to Cork Airport in terms of increased capacity but to the region as it will certainly add to the tourist numbers visiting the Munster area. This very positive development further cements Cork Airport's position as the second largest airport in the state and we congratulate Niall and his team on delivering this new route for Cork.
Niall MacCarthy, Managing Director at Cork Airport said, “We’re delighted to expand our choice of destinations with Volotea, a new scheduled airline partner. We have served Verona before as a charter destination but now travellers in both Munster and Northern Italy will be able to book flights online and this will increase tourism in both directions. 2016 has seen our traffic grow significantly and we are confident this growth will continue in 2017”.
The announcement has also been greeted warmly by local tourism stakeholders. Pat Dawson, ITAA CEO, welcomed the route, saying, “Verona is a delightful city, with a very relaxed place to visit and I would call on people from Cork to support this new service. The city was made famous by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and the house where Juliet reputedly lived draws thousands of tourists each year. Also, many of the ancient Roman ruins have been preserved, most notably the Arena, which is similar to the Colosseum in Rome”.
Aaron Mansworth, IHF Cork Branch Chairman also said, “This is great news for local tourism in Cork and Munster. The additional inbound visitors to the region will further boost the local economy. The addition of new routes at Cork Airport over the past 18 months has resulted in increased tourist numbers”.
Flights will be bookable on www.volotea.com shortly.
Commenting on the announcement of the proposed rates increase CBA Chief Executive Lawrence Owens said.
"The proposal by Cork City Council to increase commercial rates by 2.9% will unquestionably have a negative effect on business, particularly in the retail sector. It is the view of the Cork Business Association that now is clearly not the right time to increase commercial rates; just as there are signs that businesses are slowly beginning to recover and we shall be communicating this position very strongly to Cork City Council.