Managing visitor impact on The MacGillycuddy’s Reeks is still quite a hill to climb

A new initiative aims to involve walking clubs in minimising effects on the environment and farming by hillwalkers on the Kerry mountain range, writes John G O'Dwyer.

In 2003, the number of visitors to Ireland who participated in hillwalking or hiking was 168,000.

Last year, the figure had risen to almost 2.35m, with domestic holidaymakers making up 1.2m.