Call for new tourism signage

Clare could be used to pilot a new tourist signage scheme if plans by a local hotelier come to fruition.

The controversial removal of signs in the north of the county has left some business people furious but the head of the local branch of the Irish Hotels Federation, Michael Vaughan, has already spoken to Fáilte Ireland and plans to write to the National Roads Authority with what he considers to be a “pragmatic approach” to signage.
“There is an opportunity for us here to create something that is unique in terms of tourist signage. We could start it in Clare, maybe pilot it here, and then spread it around the country,” he added.
The Lahinch hotelier believes bringing back the old-style signs with black raised text on a white background for tourist services and amenities and creating a designated scenic route along the west coast using these signs, would help maintain and increase tourist numbers in these rural areas.
Tourist traffic on the R479 has dropped by more than two thirds since changes were made to signs in the area, a North Clare business owner claimed this week, adding that it is having a devastating impact on his business.
Ross Quinn of Vasco wine bar in Fanore claims changes to signs in Ballyvaughan and Lisdoonvarna “have diverted almost all tourist traffic away from the village of Fanore on the scenic coast road (R479). This has led to a reduction of approximately 70% of tourist traffic passing our premises, which is having an enormous daily impact on our business”.
Mr Vaughan agrees the changes are diverting traffic from businesses along the coastal route.  “The difficulty we have is that from Ballyvaughan, the national signage sends you on the N67 and that is probably correct in terms of NRA policy but it means the R479 is now seriously bypassed. Sat navs pick up on the national routes rather than the regional so between that and the lack of signs offering alternative routes, people who might be persuaded to take a road less travelled won’t do so,” Mr Vaughan commented.
Mr Quinn is calling for new signage to be erected ahead of the peak season and warns if this is not done, tourist-reliant companies will be forced out of business.
“We urgently request that new signage is put in place before the July high season begins indicating ‘Scenic route to Cliffs of Moher’ on the Ballyvaughan approach and ‘Scenic route to Galway’ on the Lisdoonvarna and Doolin approaches or the village of Fanore and related businesses will cease to exist,” he stated.
“There has been no consultation on signage and its effects with local businesses and to hide this route from tourists just as the summer begins is truly astonishing,” Mr Quinn added.
Mr Vaughan believes if the NRA adopts his proposal, Irish signage will be more organised and easier to understand for tourists.
“One of the things that has come about is the lack of uniformity in signage nationwide because of the ad-hoc nature of a lot of the signs, which were put up without permission by people over time. When we adopted the European style of directional signage a number of years ago, we abandoned the old Irish black-on-white signposts. What I am proposing is that we reintroduce that as the tourist signage of Ireland,” he explained.
“We also need to establish a new tourist route on the west coast and call it the Atlantic Way and erect signs to highlight and bring people onto the scenic tourist routes. It could be as iconic as highway 101 in the US,” he added.
Mr Vaughan said the IHF has been critical of the clutter of signage in the past and claims this “tidying up of it is long overdue but the manner in which it was done is unacceptable”.