While Limerick was unsuccessful in winning the European Capital of Culture for 2020 we suggest that the thinking must now shift to exploring how we can best benefit from this.

Let’s look at some facts, Limerick is getting closer and closer to Galway city with the opening of the remaining element of the M18 motorway from Limerick to Galway in 2018. The new transit time will make travel time to Galway under 50 minutes and from Shannon approx. 30 minutes

So where are the opportunities?

As Galway has no airport the European capital 2020 will attract a large amount of travellers from Europe and many will land in Shannon. Getting people from Shannon to Galway is something we will be looking to service.

It is unlikely that Galway will have sufficient hotel capacity and therefore we expect people will base themselves in Limerick commuting to Galway 2020 events daily

We need to give visitors intending to go to Galway reasons to stop and stay in Limerick. Limerick could adopt a title of “Limerick 2020 Culture Next Door” and organise events that don’t collide timing wise with the Galway2020.ie events but are organised in such a way as to accommodate visitors who attend either before or after.

Making the most of the situation requires different thinking.

Who’s on board??