Bridgestone 100 Best Guides 2002

Yes folks, the annual Bridgestone 100 Best Guides are here, their smart new design reflecting the concerns of one reader, a doctor from Scotland, who wanted more info on exactly where the 100 restaurants are to be found (so, this time out, we have included maps). We have also used colour in the books for the first time (check out that Kelly green!), have a clutch of groovy new symbols from that brilliant young illustrator, Aoife Wasser, and there is an amazing number of new entries: in the 100 Best Restaurants, for example, almost 25% of the entries are new.

But, there is an even bigger and more important element to the Bridgestone Guides this year than the improvements we have tried to make to the books themselves. Quite simply, down to a man and woman, the entries in the 100 Best Guides all had a bumper year in 2001. Never mind FMD or September 11: the people doing the good thing, from south to north and east to west, all had a great year, at a time when the mainstream tourism industry took a pasting. Whilst the hotels federation is screaming for Government money, most Bridgestone people saw their business rise by anything from 15% to 50%.

We feel this proves two things.
Firstly, that anyone who does a good job with food and accommodation today gets an appreciative audience quickly, an audience of food loving locals and interested, food loving travellers.

Secondly, it shows that the focus of our tourism industry, intent on attracting large numbers of people to travel in groups to the main tourism centres, is history. Never mind footfall and counting heads; what is needed is a concentration of Quality Tourists, the people who come here to appreciate the best things the country has to offer, folk who enjoy what is unique to Ireland, are happy to pay for it, and who leave the country as they find it. This sort of quality tourism is true eco-tourism, and the sooner Bord Failte and CERT amalgamate and start focusing on real quality - rather than meaningless numbers - will be a good day for the future of Ireland's food culture and hospitality culture.

Order the 2002 Bridgestone 100 Best Guides from booksirish.com:
Click here to buy the 100 Best Places to Stay 2002
Click here to buy the 100 Best Places to Eat 2002

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