Clear skies ahead for Dunmore Adventure
“About a third of our business is local”, Karen Sweeney, co-founder of Dunmore Adventure knows the importance of the local economy to her business.
‘Look for Local’ is a campaign of the Local Enterprise Offices launched by the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar which asks consumers to look local when they are shopping for products, services and experiences this Summer.
The Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said; “It’s been a really tough year for business owners, their staff and families. We hope this campaign builds on the upsurge that is already there and encourages people to explore their local retailer this year. Small businesses employ over one million people here, they are a crucial part of our economy.”
Karen reflected on the past 18 months, “In anticipation of a year of restrictions, and with plenty of time on our hands over the last lockdown, we decided to do a complete revamp of our facilities to promote social distancing and improve ventilation. We retrofitted our land base with extra changing facilities and outdoor multi purpose play area, which not only serves as our land based facility, but is used as a second area for changing and activities for our summer camps. This change has taken the pressure off our main building and will now be a system that we will use into the future.”
The Local Enterprise Office Waterford has been a huge support to the crew in Dunmore, “We received an online trading voucher from LEO - which we used to develop an online Watersports shop. This was a godsend over the winter and kept us in cashflow at a time when we were closed due to Covid.”
When you Look for Local the money you spend will benefit several different businesses in that area and every Euro that you give to a local business is an investment in that community.
With enough support and favourable conditions Karen is optimistic for the future, “Our plan this year was to have a brand new Sea Safari boat offering trips to families and friends around the Hook Peninsula and Waterford Estuary, but the ship build has been delayed. We plan to have our new 10.5 meter boat Vadrefjord ready in time for the 2022 season, and look forwards to doing sea trials when she arrives at the end of the summer!
The Look for Local campaign, supported by Enterprise Ireland and the Local Authorities, aims to raise awareness of the benefit of spending in your local area. This campaign seeks to strengthen that sentiment and to educate consumers on the domino effect that local spending has throughout their community.
For more information on the campaign go to www.LocalEnterprise.ie/LookforLocal and agencies, businesses and consumers will also be encouraged to use #LookforLocal on social media to help support the campaign.