Donegal holiday brochure quality, glossiness and size criticised

The older A4 Donegal holiday brochures on left compared to the new one on the right. Inset: Cllr Niamh Kennedy who brought the matter to the attention of fellow councillors

placeholder image — The older A4 Donegal holiday brochures on left compared to the new one on the right. Inset: Cllr Niamh Kennedy who brought the matter to the attention of fellow councillors

Cllr Niamh Kennedy said that the newer version is smaller, less glossy and "does not jump out at you"

The quality and size of the most recent Donegal holiday brochure, Go Visit Donegal, is to looked at, by the tourism section of Donegal County Council, after outgoing Cathaoirleach of Donegal Municipal District (MD), Cllr Niamh Kennedy said that the she felt that the quality of the new brochures were not of the same standard of older and more glossier ones.

The matter came up at the June meeting of the MD, with Cllr Kennedy expressing the view that the new brochure was “not near the brochure it was in previous years” in terms of its quality and its smaller size.

She also pointed out that the newer brochures were now just A5 in size compared to the previous A4 size.

She said that it was “disappointing” and appeared to be the “same one as the Discover Bundoran one and does not jump out at you as it did in the past”.

She said that the brochure needed to go back to the way it was, which she said was “a beautiful brochure".

ONE OF THE OLDER AND GLOSSIER A4 DONEGAL HOLIDAY BROCHURES THAT CLLR KENNEDY PREFERS TO THE NEW ONES

She said that she knew of places, including B&Bs that were hanging onto the old brochure such was their quality, glossiness and 4 size, encouraging the guests to look through the, but hoping that they are not taken away.

Her own experience related to the crew ship visitors who were coming into Killybegs regularly and whom she said “are amazing”.

She said that the old brochure was a wonderful addition to the other mementoes that they were taking with them, on leaving Donegal, but she felt that the new brochures were not of a similar standard.

She also commented on other big successes of recent time with the MD, including Sea Sessions and the Rory Gallagher festival, which were all of great economic benefit to the wider area.

In tandem with other councillors, she requested that the spend per visitor figures of people visiting the county would also be investigated.

THE NEWER A5 SIZED BROCHURE WHICH CLLR KENNEDY SAYS IS NOT AS APPEALING OR AS GLOSSY AS THE OLD ONE

In response to this, Joy Browne, the Senior Economic Development Officer at Donegal County Council said that both the events mentioned were both a fantastic opportunity to showcase the county and the brochures helped maximise those potential marketing opportunities.

With regard to the brochure itself, she said that it had been changed following feedback and it was suggested that the larger brochure might be hard to carry around and she agreed that the glossy nature of the brochure was “fantastic”.

ANOTHER OF THE OLDER A4 DONEGAL HOLIDAY BROCHURES

With this in mind, she agreed to back to her colleagues in the Council to see if a happy medium could be looked at, whereby some of the larger glossier brochures could be produced for the likes of the crew ships, with some smaller ones to meet the requirements of others, as the brochures “are a really part of our marketing”.