Ballyhoura Destination & Experience Development Plan (DEDP)

Failte Ireland, in partnership with Ballyhoura, is developing a Destination & Experience Development Plan (DEDP) for the Ballyhoura region.

The Ballyhoura region is part of Fáilte Ireland’s Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands brand, which offers myriad possibilities for visitors to get active in nature and uncover hidden gems—whether through places, people, or experiences. This is an exciting opportunity for Ballyhoura local tourism and hospitality businesses, as they now have a far greater chance to maximise their tourism potential, enhance their offerings, and align naturally with the true identity of this very authentic rural destination. 

What is the DEDP?

The DEDP is a five-year tourism destination plan designed to unlock the full tourism potential of the Ballyhoura region. Its primary objective is to realise domestic and international opportunities that can be delivered through a shared vision and associated actions. 

The DEDP ensures that the region’s offerings are motivating and compelling for visitors, commercially viable and sustainable for the surrounding local community while ensuring the protection and enhancement of the environment.

Key Objectives of the DEDP

The overall objective of the DEDP is to unlock the tourism development potential of an area. It aims to ensure that any development contributes positively to the visitor experience, industry performance, local community, and the environment, through a collaborative process and by promoting sustainable best practices.

The DEDP aims to positively impact:

• The visitor experience, by ensuring world-class tourism offerings.
• The performance of local tourism industries, enhancing their capacity and capability.
• The local community, ensuring inclusivity and benefit for all.
• The environment, by promoting and practicing sustainability.

A DEDP captures proposed tourism and development projects into a single, cohesive strategy to maximise their potential over five years. It focuses on building capacity for exceptional visitor experiences, driving demand, and enhancing offerings within specific geographic or thematic areas. Developed through a collaborative process with diverse stakeholders, the DEDP aligns with other strategic policies and encourages both domestic and international visitors to engage deeply with the destination’s history, heritage, people, and stories. 

Digital Maturity Survey

If you are a tourism business, venue, festival, or activity provider, this survey is for you! You may have already completed a survey for the DEDP for Ballyhoura; however, this survey is an additional one focused specifically on assessing your stage of digital capability.

This survey will enable Fáilte Ireland to evaluate the digital maturity levels of tourism businesses within the Ballyhoura region. Your input will enable us to pinpoint areas for improvement and identify future opportunities for digital investment, ultimately supporting the commercial success of the destination.

Your views and input are crucial to the development of the plan, and we look forward to seeing them reflected in it!

Please complete the survey by Friday, 2nd May.

Digital Maturity Survey

For any further information about the DEDP, you can reach out to:

• Marie Healy, Regional Development Officer, Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands, at [email protected]
• Jana Mannion, Tourism Marketing Officer, Ballyhoura Development CLG, at [email protected]