Refreshed Destination Mullingar brand and tourism strategy unveiled this year

A refreshed Destination Mullingar brand, with a new visual identity, marketing strategy and action plan aimed at strengthening the town’s appeal as a place to live, work and visit, is to be developed by year-end.

The update was at the July meeting of the Mullingar Kinnegad Municipal District in response to a motion from Cllr Mick Dollard, who sought details of how the Destination Mullingar initiative intends to achieve its objectives.

The council said the initiative will be driven through a coordinated programme of stakeholder engagement, destination management, marketing and brand development.

Among the proposals are the establishment of a dedicated destination management organisation to bring together representatives from the tourism, hospitality, community and public sectors; research to identify Mullingar’s unique selling points and tourism opportunities; and the preparation of a collaborative marketing action plan with defined projects, responsibilities, timelines, costs and performance measures.

A refreshed Destination Mullingar brand will also be created, including a new visual identity, messaging framework and brand toolkit, while funding opportunities will be explored to support delivery of the strategy. A monitoring framework will also be put in place to track progress.

Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Dollard welcomed the response but asked when councillors could expect to see the proposed marketing action plan and whether it would come before the municipal district.

Cllr Julie McCourt also supported the motion, noting that the current Destination Mullingar strategy covers the period 2021 to 2027 and asking what level of public engagement had taken place to date.

Council official Mary Goldsberry said significant progress had been made in recent weeks, and the council were working with Mullingar Chamber of Commerce.

She said an extensive stakeholder engagement event took place at Bloomfield House Hotel on June 30, bringing together accommodation providers, visitor attractions, activity businesses and community organisations. She said the workshop focused on identifying Mullingar’s strengths, tourism opportunities and priorities while encouraging collaboration to enhance the visitor experience.

Ms Goldsberry said the council expect to have further progress to report by the fourth quarter of this year and aim to have the marketing action plan completed by the end of 2026, although it is unlikely to be fully finalised before then.