Consultant sought to progress €28m Roscommon flagship tourism facility
A reimagined marina is being planned at the Hodson Bayl.
A specialised consultant is being sought to carry out a tourism and economic benefit report for a planned €28m flagship tourism facility at Hodson Bay.
Roscommon County Council, in a recently published tender, is seeking the services of a tourism consultancy to progress certain elements of the Hodson Bay waterfront park project.
The proposed development plans a reimagined marina with floating boardwalk, a shore length promenade and a reimagined water play experience.
The council tender outlines that an integral part of the project is to ensure the overall project “delivers on its key objective to expand and support sustainable tourism at Hodson Bay”.
In order to achieve this objective, the local authority wants to engage the services of a “skilled, experienced and competent specialist” tourism consultant to develop a tourism and economic benefit report.
The objective of this report is to explore how the potential for tourism can be maximised as part of the progression of the project.
The successful consultant will undertake market research and analysis to include a visitor profiling study, tourism, consumer and lifestyle trends along with looking at areas such as driving demand and demand forecasting.
It is envisaged that the consultant team will be appointed by April with the final report expected to be completed by September 2025.
The Hodson Bay has been identified in the Shannon Tourism Masterplan 2020-2030 as having potential for increased marina capacity as well as the possibility of providing visitor access to the Lough Ree Islands.
In 2023, the SLR Consulting company prepared a ‘Constraints Study and Preferred Options’ report for the Hodson Bay Area on behalf of the council. This report identified a strategy for the long-term development of the area as a flagship tourism facility.
Roscommon County Council, the lead applicant, and Waterways Ireland have received funding from Fáilte Ireland under the EU Just Transition Fund to take the project through the design and environmental evaluation and statutory consent stages. This also involves the completion of the tourism and economic benefit report.
Time-limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate in the tender process is March 18th.
