This article is from page 18 of the 2011-03-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
THE future of tourism in Newmarket -on-Fergus will be outline at a public meeting which will take place in the town this Thursday.
A feasibility study is currently being undertaken by Obair to determine what steps need to be taken to boost the tourism figures in the locality.
Members of the public have been invited to take part in this process, which could see a heritage centre, tourist office and budget accommo- dation being constructed in the area.
“We have nothing in Newmarket at the moment which promotes our heritage and our tourism product. We need a centre or an information point where people who come to the area can get the information they need about the locality and then get out for the day,” said organiser Tracey Mc Nulty.
“We will be looking for a suitable location for this centre and talking to all the community to find out what they want. One of the main points of this is to come up with a tourism plan for the area so that we can promote the area in an organised way.”
The project wants to publicise some of the lesser known tourist and herit age sites in the locality such as the great Newmarket gold find, the Hillfort at Mooghaun and a local tourist heritage trail.
“We want to find out exactly what the village needs and it is critical that the local people contribute to this process. We are talking about very simple things here, like the fact that Newmarket doesn’t have any budget accommodation,” continued Tracey.
“The town is missing a lot of little things which are needed to make it an attractive place for tourists to stop and visit. We need to identify what we need first of all and then come up with the ways of getting funding for these things.
“At this point it’s all about consulting as widely as possible and letting people have their say now, before anything is decided.”
The public meeting will take place at the Obair offices in Newmarket on Fergus, this Thursday, March 31, from 8pm.