By David Raleigh
Limerick is to be marketed as an “investment hotspot” under a new brand makeover, as it competes against Dublin, Cork, and Galway for business.
The Treaty City is to build on its current status as an attractive location for economic growth with an unprecedented 12,000 jobs created in the past five years.
More than €1.7 billion of investment by new or existing companies has been announced since Limerick City and County Council announced an economic and spatial strategy in 2013, making Limerick the fastest
region in the country outside of the capital for foreign direct investment.
In the latest plan by the joint local authority, the Council has sought to develop and deliver a compelling and coherent brand strategy.
A range of marketing initiatives have already supported the wider plan, including the development of www.limerick.ie - named among the Top 25 Tourism websites in the world 2017 by *Skift.com.
The local authority is also in charge of a development company Limerick Twenty Thirty DAC, which has purchased key sites to make available to investors.
Laura Ryan, Head of Marketing and Communications, at the Council said:
We've been Ireland’s first National City of Culture, we’ve launched Limerick Twenty Thirty DAC, which is developing key strategic sites in Limerick City and County that will act as anchors for enterprise and investment development across Limerick.
Limerick has also become a film hub with Troy Studios taking up residency at the former Dell manufacturing factory in Castleteroy, and producing US hit sci-fi series Nightflyers.
A new Tourism Strategy 2017-2023 has also been designed to revitalise the tourism industry by increasing the number of visitors by 50%.
The new brand identity, using Limerick's close proximity to Shannon Airport and its three colleges UL, LIT, and Mary Immaculate, will communicate the city as a contemporary international location to live, work, invest, study and visit.