This article is from page 10 of the 2006-11-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
SHANNON Development has announced the appointment of a new tourism officer for the county after a long campaign by local tourist interests for the post to be filled.
Shannon Development Regional Manager for Clare, John Quinlivan yesterday said that the appointment of Siobhan King would give an even greater focus by Shannon Development to the promotion of tourism in Clare.
The scale of the challenge for the new tourism development is underlined with recent figures from Shannon Development’s tourism subsidiary, Shannon Heritage.
The figures show that the region’s tourism operator failed to capitalize on the record growth in passengers at Shannon Airport last year.
According to accounts returned by Shannon Heritage, visitor numbers at the company’s visitor attractions, including Bunratty Folk Park, dropped last year from 629,233 in 2004 to 625,615 last year.
This was against the background of record growth at Shannon Airport where 3.3 million passed through the airport in 2005 – an increase of 900,000 on any previous year.
However, Mr Quinlivan said: “A tourism officer for Clare will help co-ordinate the efforts of bodies such as the Clare Tourism Forum and the Clare Tourist Council. Siobhan is a great addition and will be totally focused on the job of promoting Clare
He said: “It’s estimated that €4 million is spent annually by the tourism industry in Clare in promoting the county and Siobhan’s appointment will only enhance that penetration.”
Mr Quinlivan said that the appointment was tied to Shannon Development’s restructuring and the appointment could not be made before now as a result.
Ms. King has been an employee of Shannon Development for the past 21 years. She first joined the company in September 1985 and has held a number of key positions in the company since that time.
“I am delighted to take up the position of Clare Tourism Officer and look forward to working with everyone involved with tourism in the county. An essential part of the role will be to ensure that Clare maintains and grows its tourism market share, in addition to being a key ingredient in the Shannon Region Tourism portfolio,” said Ms. King.
Ms King will begin her new role officially from January ’07, but will be meeting with key tourism officials over the coming weeks.