St Patrick’s Day, Food and Festivals:
Designing Sustainable Tourism Experiences Across Europe
One festival, many cultures, a more sustainable future.
Every March, St Patrick’s Day turns Ireland into the world’s best-known festival destination. In 2027, students from across Europe will see it from the inside. The Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) is hosting the Blended Intensive Programme St Patrick’s Day, Food and Festivals: Designing Sustainable Tourism Experiences Across Europe, with the face-to-face week held in Limerick from 15th to 19th March 2027. Students will explore how festivals and food shape identity, place and the visitor experience. They will compare Irish, Dutch and Portuguese food cultures and look at how events can be run more sustainably. On 17th of March, they will join the Limerick St Patrick’s Festival Parade, then use the celebrations as live fieldwork. Working in international teams, they will design and present their own sustainable festival or food tourism experience. It might reimagine St Patrick’s Day, or bring a festival from their own country to new audiences.
Cultural festivals and food tourism markets are among the fastest-growing and most socially significant sectors of European tourism. Limericks St Patrick's Day Festival is one of the most internationally recognised cultural events in the world, attracting over 70,000 visitors to Limerick and generating significant regional economic and social impact. At the same time, sustainable food tourism encompassing seasonal markets, farm-to-table experiences, artisan food culture, and circular food economy practices has emerged as a priority area for European tourism policy, aligned with the EU Green Deal, the European Gastronomy Strategy, and the UN SDGs.
This BIP responds to a clearly identified need within the European higher education and tourism sectors for innovative, practice-based, intercultural learning experiences that develop students' capacity to address the complex sustainability challenges facing the tourism industry.
This BIP aims to develop students' capacity to design, evaluate, and communicate sustainable and regenerative tourism experiences within the context of cultural festivals, seasonal food markets, and heritage events across Europe. Drawing on Limerick's St Patrick's Day Festival and European sustainable food tourism traditions as living case studies, students will engage with real-world stakeholders, apply place-based and systems-thinking frameworks, and develop professional competencies directly relevant to the evolving tourism and hospitality sectors.
By fostering a learning group culture encouraging students to share their personal stories within and across Higher Education Institutes (HEIs), this BIP aims to create an understanding of designing sustainable tourism experiences across Europe.
24th of February 2027 to 19th of March 2027
English
Participation in this Blended Intensive Programme will be formally recognised by each student's home institution in accordance with institutional and RUN-EU guidelines for Erasmus+ mobility.
All RUN EU students are interested in food and festival sustainability.
Please contact your International Office at your Home Institution.
Programme at a glance
Aim: Introduce the BIP, its assessment and partners, and the core ideas behind the design of sustainable festival and food tourism experiences.
1. Introduction to BIP - Welcome from TUS and NHL Stenden; aims and learning outcomes; meet the teaching team.
2. Structure of the BIP – How the three online sessions connect to the face-to-face week in Limerick (15–19 March).
3. Assessment Review - The Group Assignment brief: design and present a sustainable festival or food tourism experience; assessment criteria; Friday presentations in Limerick.
4. Assessment Group Breakout rooms - International groups meet, each student introduces a festival from their own country, and groups agree on roles and how they will communicate.
5. Face-to-Face Week – Overview of the week in Limerick, including taking part in the St Patrick’s Festival Parade on 17 March.
6. Break
7. Introduction to theory – Key concepts: the experience economy and co-creation; sustainable event management (people, planet, profit); authenticity and cultural heritage; links to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
8. Designing Sustainable Tourism Experiences in Ireland – St Patrick’s Day from feast day to global festival; the Limerick St Patrick’s Festival; the sustainability challenges of large public events in Ireland.
9. Next online session - Preview of Session 2 and a short preparatory task for groups.
Aim: Explore how Dutch destinations design festivals and food experiences that attract visitors while protecting communities and the environment.
1. Welcome and recap
2. Festival culture in the Netherlands minutes
3. Sustainable events in practice
4. Food, identity and sustainable sourcing Break
5. Breakout activity: festival sustainability audit
6. Group feedback
7. Group Assignment check-in and next session
Aim: Examine how Portuguese festivals and food heritage are developed as sustainable tourism experiences, and prepare students for the face-to-face week in Limerick.
1. Welcome and recap
2. Festival culture in Portugal
3. Sustainable tourism in Portugal
4. Food, identity and sustainable sourcing
5. Break
6. Breakout activity: comparing Ireland, the Netherlands and Portugal
7. Preparing for the face-to-face week
8. Questions and close
Sunday 14 March – Arrival
All day: Arrival of partner students and staff in Limerick
Monday 15 March
08:30 – 09:00: Registration (Taste Training Restaurant)
09:00 – 09:30: Welcome to TUS from Faculty Senior Management and the BIP team (Taste Training Restaurant)
09:30 – 11:00: Workshop: St Patrick’s Day and festival tourism, from tradition to experience (Taste Training Restaurant)
11:00 – 11:30: Break (TUS Canteen)
11:30 – 13:00: Group Assignment briefing (Taste Training Restaurant)
13:00 – 14:00: Lunch (TUS Canteen)
14:00 – 18:00: Walking tour of Limerick’s festival and food heritage: Milk Market, King John’s Castle quarter and the parade route (Limerick City)
18:00 – 21:00: Teambuilding evening with TUS postgraduate students (TUS)
Tuesday 16 March
09:00 – 11:00: Workshop: Food, identity and festivals – Dutch/German food culture and sustainable sourcing (venue TBC)
11:00 – 11:30: Break (Taste)
11:30 – 13:30: Workshop: Food, identity and festivals – Portuguese food culture and sustainable sourcing (venue TBC)
13:30 – 14:30: Lunch (TUS Canteen)
14:30 – 16:30: Guest speaker: Running festivals (venue TBC)
16:30 – 18:00: Group Assignment preparation (venue TBC)
Evening: Free evening – St Patrick’s Eve in the city
Wednesday 17 March – St Patrick’s Day
09:00 – 23:00: Take part in the Limerick St Patrick’s Festival Parade, followed by the festival celebrations: live music, street entertainment and festival food. Groups gather evidence for the Group Assignment (meet at Arthur’s Quay Park)
Thursday 18 March
09:00 – 10:30: Fieldwork debrief: festival findings by group (Taste Training Restaurant)
10:30 – 11:00: Break (TUS Canteen)
11:00 – 13:00: Group Assignment preparation (Taste Training Restaurant)
13:00 – 14:00: Lunch (TUS Canteen)
14:00 – 18:00: Group Assignment preparation (Limerick, venue TBC)
Evening: Free evening to work on presentations
Friday 19 March
09:00 – 11:00: Group Assignment: final preparation for presentations (Taste Training Restaurant)
11:00 – 13:00: Group Assignment presentations (Taste Training Restaurant)
13:00 – 14:00: Lunch (TUS Canteen)
14:00 – 15:00: Evaluation, certificates and wrap-up (Taste Training Restaurant)
Evening: Free evening
Saturday 20 March – Departure
All day: Departure of partner students and staff
Learning outcomes
By the end of this Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme, learners will be able to:
Analyse the role of cultural festivals, including St Patrick's Day, in promoting sustainable and regenerative tourism practices within diverse European contexts, with reference to relevant policy frameworks and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Evaluate the environmental, social, and economic impacts of festivals, food markets, and tourism events, applying sustainability, regenerative tourism, and place-based development frameworks in a critical and evidence-informed manner.
Compare cultural heritage and food tourism practices across Irish and European destinations, identifying transferable best practices in sustainable event and destination management.
Develop and present a professionally structured, sustainability-focused proposal addressing a real-world challenge faced by a festival, food tourism, or destination management stakeholder.
Work collaboratively in an intercultural team, demonstrating the communication, project management, and professional skills required in a contemporary, diverse European tourism environment.
Selection criteria
Selection will be based on compliance to the prerequisites, order of submission, motivation and a balanced representation of the RUN-EU members' institution. Final selection will be based on participants interest in food and festival sustainability.
Involved organisations and persons
NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences
Partner Organisation- Sarah Seidel (Instructor)
Polytechnic University of Cávado and Ave
Partner Organisation- Raquel Pereira (Instructor)
- Vânia Costa (Instructor)
Technological University of the Shannon
Lead Organisation- Emma Carroll (Instructor)
- Noëlle O Connor (Lead Instructor)
- Shane Feane (Regional Stakeholder)
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them. Grant Agreement Number: 101124674
