This article is from page 4 of the 2006-08-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
A WEEK after one Clare hotelier claimed that the tourism industry in the county needs to “fight back”, a second local hotel empire has noted the lack of an increase in tourist numbers during the past two months.
Last week the Central Statistics Office released figures that showed domestic holidaymakers were opting for Dublin at the expense of Clare and other west of Ireland counties.
This week the CSO said the number of foreign visitors to Ireland increased by 14 per cent during the first five
months of this year, compared to the same period last year. However, Paddy Maher, development and marketing manager with the Atlantis Holiday Group, said this increase did not continue into the summer months.
“The good start to the year has not been sustained through the summer months,” he said. “While there was a surge in business over the June Bank Holiday, I do not regard this year’s tourism numbers to be any improvement on previous years.
“The overall increase in overseas visitors has been no real benefit to regional tourism, where visitor numbers have remained static at best.”
According to the CSO, trips from Britain were up almost 13 per cent, mainland Europe 23 per cent and North America 3.7 per cent.
“I welcome this increase in total visitor numbers. However, it must be noted that visitors are increasingly staying for shorter periods of time. These shorter breaks and the concentration of numbers along the eastern seaboard is having knock-on effects for total revenue,” Mr Maher said.
Meanwhile, the Clare Tourism Forum has received an upsurge in enquiries relating to the county, arising out of a promotional campaign it launched a few weeks ago. The national campaign is a collaborative approach to attracting greater visitor numbers to Clare.
From July 1 to 18, enquiries to the Ennis Tourist Office were up 133 per cent on the entire month of June. And public reaction to the promotional campaign has been described as “very encouraging” by David Collins, Clare Tourism Forum member and Group Marketing Director with Lynch Hotels. Other local tourism interests are planning to promote the county at the 20th annual US Milwaukee Irish Fest, which attracts more than 130,000 people.
Shannon Development, Clare County Council, Kilrush Town Council, the Mayor of Clare, and representatives from the County Clare tourism industry, are gearing up to promote Clare as a tourist destination from August 17 to 20 in the US town.