This article is from page 4 of the 2006-01-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
CHAIRPERSON of the Clare Tourism Council, Paddy Maher, has criticised the work of Tourism Ireland, the agency whose job it is to promote Ireland to foreign markets.
Speaking after the announcement of a 5 per cent increase in the amount of foreign tourists entering Ireland, Mr Maher, who is also the manager of the Burren Centre in Kilfenora, accused Tourism Ireland of neglecting its role in the west of Ireland.
“We are out there trying to present what we have and we are getting very little support from Tourism Ireland,” said Mr Maher. “We find them very weak at filtering out the big tour operators to the rural areas.
“When it come down to the nitty gritty they really have not focused on the product on the west of Ireland at all. The rural areas are just not getting any attention,” he continued. “Everyone wants to get a slice of the cake but we just can’t seem to get our slice.”
Preliminary figures released by Fáilte Ireland indicate that almost 6.7 million people travelled to Ireland from foreign countries in 2005 but that an increasing number were staying in urban centres and the average length of holidays was decreasing.
“We would be of the opinion that the 5 per cent increase has been seen in some parts of the mid west but definitely not in others,” continued Mr Maher. “We have seen a growth of about 3 per cent but most of that has come about as a result of the Ryanair Flights to Shannon Airport.”
Indeed, earlier this year the Burren Centre in Kilfenora joined the cross border promotional group, Heritage Island. This move essentially means that the centre is paying Heritage Island for the promotional work that the government organisation Tourism Ireland should be doing for free.