Project will need a good budget - Tourism initiative

THE tourism initiative launched yesterday seems impressive but it might be even more so if it had a budget. Despite that minor detail, a programme based on 5,000 years of history has, according to Fáilte Ireland, the potential to increase visitor numbers to the East of Ireland by 20% and tourism revenues by nearly €1bn by 2020.

The project, called Ireland’s Ancient East will include four themes and focus on national monuments such as Clonmacnoise, Glendalough, Mellifont Abbey, Jerpoint Abbey, and Holycross Abbey, Kilkenny’s Medieval Mile, the Viking Quarter in Waterford, Hook Head Lighthouse. A subsection called Anglo Ireland will include some of the “great houses and gardens” that survived our war of independence. This is a positive initiative and if it generates as much interest and business as the Wild Atlantic Way, it can be deemed a resounding success.

It is important to offer themed attractions to the world tourism market, as the days of people visiting a country just because it seems a nice place are long gone. Focussing on heritage sites brings its own challenges too and dips our toe in a market that may have expectations we may be unfamiliar with. Those with an empathy for these things usually aspire to high environmental standards and we might be wise to have an honest appraisal of our stewardship before we count these particular chickens before they are hatched.