Monday, July 19, 2010
HIKING and walking are now the most popular activity pursuits by tourists in Ireland, with upwards of two million people, including home and overseas visitors, taking part each year.
They come all year round, but in even greater numbers during the peak July and August period, to avail of superb outdoor facilities, such as over 200 looped walks spread right across the country.
Some could be described as hill walkers, as they like to take to the mountains, but many prefer to confine themselves to more low-lying trails that sometimes cross undulating ground that take people through elevated moorland and forests.
People heading into wild areas with which they are not familiar are always advised by mountain rescue teams and others to take good maps with them. Walkers can, after all, go astray, often with serious, life-threatening consequences.
Market research by Fáilte Ireland has shown that most walking visitors are occasional walkers — people with variable fitness levels, limited navigation skills and who are unlikely to have done research on walks prior to arrival.
For these and other practical reasons a new range of Discovery Series maps just launched by Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) will be welcomed by ramblers, hill walkers, tourists and outdoor activity enthusiasts.
Covering the whole island of Ireland, the series includes 92 maps and are specifically designed for tourist and leisure activities and will help users to better explore the landscape and general environment. Seventy-five maps are published by OSi and 17 by Ordnance Survey Northern Ireland.
In producing this new range OSi consulted widely with many groups and associations representing outdoor pursuits, including the Irish Mountain Rescue Association, the Irish Ramblers Club, the Walkers Association of Ireland, Scouting Ireland, and the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Chief executive of OSi, Geraldine Ruane, said they set out to include every feature that these organisations needed in maps, with the OSi commitment to quality and accuracy being regarded as a benchmark by mapping agencies around the world.
At the launch, well-known explorer Pat Falvey delivered a talk titled, From Carrantuohill to Everest, in which he underlined the importance of accurate and high quality mapping to ensure safe navigation in wilderness areas. Nine maps covering west Kerry, west Cork, Dublin city and north Wicklow will be the first in the series to be published. Visitors are now seeking quality looped walks in areas of outstanding scenic beauty, off road and of 1.5 to three hours in duration. They also want to interact with local people and enjoy a relaxing, peaceful holiday in rural areas. These are also valuable tourists: the average spend of overseas visitors engaging in outdoor activities is 38% higher than the general overseas visitor. They also say that walking is an important factor in their choice of Ireland as a holiday destination.
According to Ciara Scully, product officer with Fáilte Ireland, the number of visitors walking and hiking offers the biggest potential for growth in the tourist sector in the coming years.
"Most visitors when they come want to see the scenery and meet people in an authentic rural setting and walking and hiking offers that. We have seen a huge increase year on year in the past five years and that is directly in correlation to the improved product we can now offer,’ she added.
In late June a group of leading British tour operators enjoyed a visit to Kinsale and west Cork, prior to attending a workshop in Killarney. While here, the group enjoyed a walking tour of Kinsale, with local historian Dermot Ryan. They also visited Garnish Island, Glengarriff, and later took in a guided walk of the spectacular Lighthouse Loop on the Sheep’s Head peninsula.
Many members of the group were visiting here for the first time. Lawrence Bate, who heads up Tourism Ireland’s operations in Britain, said they were extremely impressed by the spectacular scenery, the wealth of things to see and do and the friendliness of the people they met.
There are rambling and walking clubs all over England and the hope is that the tour operators, who can influence the holiday decisions of thousands of others, will encourage more walkers to come to the south-west, especially when access is now so much easier through the restored Cork/Swansea ferry service.
By the way, a warning sign which recently disappeared from Carrantuohill, in Kerry, has been replaced by the Kerry Mountain Rescue Team. Why anybody should interfere with a sign advising people against taking a ‘false’ descent route from the summit, is hard to fathom. The sign could save lives, after all, by diverting people away from a steep and dangerous ledge. But the ever-vigilant team must be commended for acting promptly.
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