From Dingle and Tralee to Cahersiveen and Killarney, Kerry tourism is staging a comeback

Heavily reliant on tourism, Kerry has been severely impacted by the pandemic. We look at how the county fighting back

CEO, Tralee Chamber Ken Tobin says Covid-19 has brought new opportunity to Co Kerry. Picture: Domnick Walsh

Although Covid-19 decimated the tourism and hospitality sector in Ireland, it seems Kerry, a county very dependent on the sector, is moving towards creating new opportunities as community and business resilience begins to rise from the ashes.

New jobs will be announced in early January in Tralee and there is a recruitment drive for consultants at the local hospital and for skilled staff in a number of tech companies in the town.

“We are going to have to create jobs for the people who came back to Kerry during the pandemic; towns like Killarney and Dingle are heavily reliant on tourism and going forward they are going to need the support of the other towns around them,” said Ken Tobin, CEO Tralee Chamber.

“As a county, we really do need to work together and that is going to happen.

“We have the Kerry Tourism Industry Forum (KTIS) which represents the tourism businesses in the entire county - they are all working together from Dingle and Ballybunion to Cahersiveen and Killarney they are meeting, helping and supporting each other.” So, it’s a case of one door closing and another opening in the country despite the “difficult and challenging” year that Kerry and its people have endured.

Killarney is a town that is heavily reliant on tourism which will bounce back despite Covid-19 impact. File Picture. 

But, there is light at the end of the tunnel and that has come in the shape of opportunity, Mr Tobin added.

“Nobody in business could have prepared themselves for what 2020 brought with it.

The pandemic accelerated the impact that online shopping is having on towns, regions and small communities.

“Strength and resilience in local communities have shown the support of the shopping local campaign as well as the support shown by Local Government and government agencies to communities across the country.

“Small businesses were supported and encouraged to go-online so that they could continue trading, and hopefully after the pandemic passes we will all have learned the value of local businesses, local communities - this is something that we must bring forward into next year so that we can all thrive.” He says that in Tralee, for example, job creation will have to be “the number one priority” next year as well as being to the fore across the whole county.

“We lost businesses this year - Debenhams and Mothercare on the retail side, and BorgWarner on the industrial side - and they were major blows to the town but behind them there were lots of small businesses that didn’t make it either and they haven’t made the headlines,” the CEO, Tralee Chamber continued.

“The vast majority of jobs in Tralee and in other towns across Kerry derive from small, local businesses and when they close they are not headline news, and they are gone.

“So, we have to get our small indeginous businesses up and running again.

“Job creation in Kerry is not just about foreign direct investment (FDI), in fact we have been failed by FDI in Co Kerry, it is about investing in and developing our small local indeginous companies - that is what will get us through and that is where the opportunity is.” He pointed to infrastructural investment in regional towns and its importance to the future survival and sustainability of towns like Tralee, Killarney and Dingle.

In fact, the second phase of regeneration plans for Tralee is set to kick off in early January around the town centre and Mr Tobin says this will serve as a major boost to the people of the area.

“A number of jobs will be announced in the coming weeks for the town which is also a very positive step forward,” he added.

“There has also been huge infrastructural investment in Tralee and in other towns across Kerry.

Dingle is a thriving tourism hub that will need the support of its neighbouring towns as new opportunity beckons. File Picture. 

“Tourism and hospitality has carried the county of Kerry for the last 40 years and given the impact that Covid-19 had on these sectors, it is not fair that they should have to carry all the weight for the county.” 20% of Kerry’s jobs are in the hospitality and tourism sectors and Mr Tobin says the time has come to create new opportunities across the county.

In fact, he adds, “2020 has helped us to realise opportunity when we see it and there is lots of it there; we just need to tap into it”.

“Kerry is not a one-trick pony, it has so much to offer and one thing we have learned this year from all the people that returned to their native county because of the pandemic is that as a region we have everything right here on our doorstep for those who live and work here.

“In fact people are gaining more by living in Kerry than they are by living in the cities - houses are a lot more affordable, we have really good schools and beauty all around us.” He says there has been a real ‘coming together’ in Kerry this year and it is this new attitude that will see the county through.

“Chambers, local authorities and big employers in Kerry have been engaging in weekly zoom meetings for the last few months and this has never happened before,” said Mr Tobin.

“So there is a genuine realisation out there now that by working together so much more can be achieved.

“I can see great things happening over the next 12 to 24 months in a town like Tralee.

“There are jobs here; hospitality and tourism will come back, the hospital is recruiting consultants and a number of the big-tech companies are also hiring staff, so it’s very positive for Tralee.

“We have Munster University as well and anyone who comes to visit that campus will be blown away by the quality of it.

“The Kerry Sports Academy is up there and there is nothing like it in the country - and there is more development planned for there.

“A €30m stem building is going to be developed on the campus.” He says too that there is an onus on the powers that be to provide a town that students want to live and study in.

“We will do that; there is plenty of culture here - we have a really vibrant music scene in the town, a strong food and restaurant set up and the people who moved back here during the pandemic want to stay.

“There is opportunity here like never before.”