Delight in town as tourist office avoids the axe
It’s a crucial year for the town, celebrating its 400th anniversary and The Gathering.
Anxious to secure the facility’s long-term future, locals are considering a range of initiatives to increase footfall into the office by 50%.
Theses include the erection of special ‘i’ signs on approach roads and in the town centre, encouraging local festivals to use the facility for promotion and ticket selling as well as keeping it open longer under an initiative in which locals would volunteer on Sundays during the high season.
Since 2010, nearly 50% of tourism information offices across the country have been taken over by local interest groups.
“The office is important also to the greater West Cork area and with so many festivals and activities planned for Clonakilty, the tourism office should be hopping,” said Maeve Williams of the local Chamber of Commerce tourism committee.
The move follows a Fáilte Ireland review of its Tourist Information Office network last year prompting closure fears.
The office has been operated by one permanent staff member on the town’s Ashe St for about 13 years.
“We had meetings with Fáilte Ireland but, for a while, things looked pessimistic,” said Ms Williams.
However, she has recently received a letter in which Tourism Minister Varadkar said the office was safe — for the moment at least. In his letter, the minister said he understood the office would be operated by Fáilte Ireland throughout 2013.
