Dublin’s FIRE and SOLE Restaurants complete CTW Training

The twinned ‘FIRE Restaurant & Lounge’ and ‘SOLE Seafood & Grill’ restaurants in central Dublin are the first two eateries in Ireland to undertake COTRI’s CTW Chinese Tourist Welcome Training programme.

The establishments join a list of landmark Irish attractions to complete the training, which is delivered by official COTRI Country Partner for Ireland the Centre for Competitiveness as part of a wider national strategy led by Fáilte Ireland to prepare the Irish market for increasing numbers of Chinese visitors.

In addition to being attended by Fáilte Ireland’s Director of Commercial Development Paul Keeley, the certification ceremony was attended by Madame Olga Wang First Secretary, Head of Culture and Tourism, Chinese Embassy in Ireland.

COTRI Certification Presentation.
Photo Chris Bellew /Fennell Photography Copyright 2018

Praising the positive impact of the June 2018 launch of the first direct flights to Ireland from China, Paul Keeley underlined:

“China is one of the fastest-growing outbound travel markets in the world with numbers predicted to grow to 200 million by 2020. Last year, an estimated 70,000 Chinese visitors travelled to Ireland but with the advent of the new direct flights from Beijing and Hong Kong that number is expected to substantially increase. The aim of the ‘China Ready Programme’ is to ensure that the Chinese visitor is warmly welcomed to Ireland and that tourism businesses are prepared and culturally aware of the requirements of our Chinese visitors.”

Executive Head Chef of both FIRE and SOLE restaurants further highlighted:

“The programme has educated staff across all departments of culture differences, given us a greater understanding of the Chinese tourist market and provided us with the information and tools to implement positive changes to ensure all our guests will receive the best possible SOLE or FIRE experience.

With these new changes in place we look forward to welcoming more Chinese guests to SOLE Seafood and Grill to experience the wealth of locally sourced Irish seafood and meat Ireland has to offer and to FIRE Restaurant and Lounge to enjoy our award winning Irish beef while dining in a part of Dublin’s history, FIRE’s dining room was originally built in 1864 as the Lord Mayors supper room and still features all the original architecture.”

Visit their website here.

Source: Fáilte Ireland

Images: Chris Bellew /Fennell Photography Copyright 2018, FIRE Restaurant & Lounge, SOLE Seafood & Grill, The Centre for Competitiveness (Ireland)

Pictured in cover image, FIRE (l-r): Stephen Dudley (Fáilte Ireland), Madame Olga Wang (Chinese Embassy in Ireland), Tony Lenehan (COTRI Ireland), Andrew Fisher (General Manager, FIRE Restaurant), Nicole Jordan (Marketing Executive, FIRE Restaurant), Richie Wilson (Executive Head Chef, FIRE Restaurant).

Pictured in article image, SOLE (l-r): Stephen Dudley, Madame Olga Wang, Tony Lenehan, Nicole Jordan, Richie Wilson.