Glengarriff enjoys summer growth with revival in visitor numbers
KURT LYNDORFF is thinking about producing a Chinese version of the visitor’s guide to the colourful sculpture garden he runs with his artist wife Sheena a few miles outside the picturesque tourist town of Glengarriff.
The couple, who run the Ewe Experience, an interactive, interpretive outdoor sculpture gallery, have produced English, French and German versions of the booklet for years, but the appearance, this summer, of several Chinese tourists, has made Kurt think about expanding his range.
He’s not the only one to notice that after years of recession Glengarriff is now attracting more and more visitors — experienced hoteliers in the town dubbed ‘Ireland’s Garden Haven’ are reporting solid upswings in tourist numbers of between 10% and 15% on last year.
By the second week of June, reports hotelier Gerard Hanratty, who in 2000 took over the picturesque Eccles Hotel in which Queen Victoria once stayed, not one of their 61 bedrooms was free — the hotel had been completely booked out by German visitors.
“The visitor numbers are beginning to improve a lot — it’s a very heartening improvement.
“Two weeks ago I didn’t have a single room free in the hotel and none of the guests were Irish,” says Mr Hanratty, who has since sold the historic inn.
Glengarriff has been a favourite destination for tourists for generations — its renowned mild micro- climate, picturesque location, and a varied range of attractions, including the Garnish Island with its spectacular gardens, and the newly- refurbished Bryce House (work on the house, completed by the Office of Public Works at the end of last summer, cost nearly €3m).
Last summer alone nearly 60,000 day-trippers took the boat trip to enjoy the beauties of Garnish Island, many of them taking advantage en route of the opportunity to view the area’s large population of basking seals.
While Garnish Island is a big attraction in itself, once in Glengarriff visitors can avail of a range of amenities — there’s the Nature Reserve with its plethora of walking trails, the tranquil Bamboo Park, the Ewe Experience and a wide range of cycling options, all of which give the town that something-for-everyone appeal.
Like many tourist destinations, Glengarriff got a severe economic battering during the recession, but that’s all changing, says Mr Hanratty, who has reported an increase of up to 15% in tourist numbers at the Eccles Hotel this season, while over at the nearby Glengarriff Park Hotel, the story is similarly optimistic.
Last year was very strong says owner Colm MacCarthy, who reveals that he had initially approached the 2016 season hoping only for a similar performance.
By mid-June, however, he says, visitor numbers had exceeded expectations:.
“If we had the same as last year we would be happy, but it’s already looking as if this year will be ahead of 2015 in terms of overall visitor numbers.
“We had a very good June. Bookings in the hotel are up by more than 10%,” he revealed.
“There’s been a lot of interest as a result of the redevelopment on Garnish Island so the numbers going to Garnish are strong. There’s been very positive spinoff for us.”
This heartening upswing is the result of a confluence of positive events, believes Hanratty, a hotelier of some 25 years’ experience.
One big factor, he says, was the strong Government support for what turned out to be the hugely successful marketing campaign of the Wild Atlantic Way.
“This was the most successful marketing initiative I have seen in decades,” says MacCarthy, adding however, that the upswing is also due to Fáilte Ireland’s promotion of the town abroad and the hard work of a network of Irish and British tour operators who, he says, have steadily built up solid relationships with foreigner travellers interested in the Garden and Walking Tours in which Glengarriff specialises.
“The Wild Atlantic Way is giving an uplift, along with the current uplift in the economy and a lot of hard work on the part of some Irish tour operators who are bringing visitors in from Scandinavia, Germany, Britain, and France.
“We’ve even had a number of Chinese visitors. A lot of credit should go to the Irish Hotel Federation and Fáilte Ireland for their hard work, which has paid off.”
However, be warned — the rising tide in visitors is not as yet lifting all boats.
Andrew O’Shea, who runs The Spinning Wheel — a family-run gift and fashion shop which was been a Glengarriff landmark for 50 years — is anticipating a predicted surge in Irish visitors, who, he says, are traditionally bigger spenders than foreign tourists hampered by luggage weight restrictions.
A long-time member of the Glengarriff Tourism and Development Association, Mr O’Shea has also noticed the increase in out-of-state holidaymakers this summer, but he says, it’s not translating into retail sales.
“Visitor numbers are not translating into shopping. People are taking holidays but they’re not buying in shops the way they used to,” he reports, adding that this is partly because of strict restrictions on airline baggage and also because, he believes, people have decoupled holidays from shopping.
“There’s a growing culture of going on holidays and not spending a lot of money, because you can buy whatever you want in your home town or get it on the internet,” he says.
Hence, Mr O’Shea is looking forward to the spinoff from an anticipated strong increase in domestic tourism traffic this summer.
“With the improving domestic economy there will be more domestic tourism.
“Irish people are coming in greater numbers this year than they have over the last six or seven years, so we’re hoping that this will be the first big year for Irish-based tourism since the start of the recession.
“Irish families do like to buy crafts and clothes and they’re good spenders when they have it, so we’re hopeful that summer 2016 will be another step on the upward curve and that the spinoff will be there this time, particularly from the Irish tourists.”
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