6 Apr 2022
Brittany Ferries to sail twice weekly from Cork to France
Brittany Ferries has confirmed that its new midweek sailing connecting Cork with France will become a permanent feature of the company’s sailing schedule. The ferry company said this further reinforces its long term commitment to Ireland, Irish tourism and the Port of Cork. The Wednesday sailing from Cork to Roscoff is part of a new three year deal signed by the Port of Cork Company (PoCC) and Brittany Ferries. Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons said the new sailing has the potential to generate €4.3m from a tourism perspective to the local economy.
“As we restart overseas tourism to Ireland this year, the announcement that Brittany Ferries’ MV Armorique will operate between Roscoff and Cork this summer is very good news and a real vote of confidence in Irish tourism,” Mr Gibbons said. “As an island, the importance of convenient, direct access cannot be overstated – it is absolutely critical to achieving growth in inbound tourism,” the Tourism Ireland CEO said. “We already work very closely with Brittany Ferries and we look forward to cooperating with them to maximise the promotion of their services using the MV Armorique,” he said.
“France is one of our top four markets for Irish tourism and in 2019, we welcomed 557,000 visitors from France to the island of Ireland, whose visits delivered €283m to the economy,” he noted. “We are rolling out an extensive programme of promotional activity in France throughout 2022. Our message is very simple: Ireland is open for business again and we cannot wait to welcome back visitors from France,” he added.
Brittany Ferries President, Jean-Marc Roué, Honorary Consul of Ireland in Brittany, said the company’s relationship with Cork and indeed with Ireland has always been a happy and successful relationship. “While the last two years have been difficult for us all, I am delighted to be in a position to confirm that this year our early bookings are up by over 35% on 2019 which was our last “normal” year due to Covid,” he said. Port of Cork Company chief executive Eoin McGettigan said the new investments from the Port of Cork and from Brittany Ferries are symbols of “optimism, ambition and celebrate the long-awaited ability for people both in Ireland and France to enjoy renewed freedom after such a challenging two-year period”. “We are greatly looking forward to seeing a strong and welcome return to tourism and travel between our beautiful countries,” he added. The Brittany Ferries Roscoff to Cork sailings run from April to October 2022