Loop Head Peninsula is the only Irish destination to be named in the inaugural Sustainable Destinations Global Top 100.
A joint initiative of TravelMole.com, Vision on Sustainable Tourism, Totem Tourism and Green Destinations, the awards and recognise destinations around the world that have adopted sustainable tourism practices.
Nominated by Ecotourism Ireland, Loop Head Tourism joins a host of well-known global destinations in the Top 100 List, including the New Forest and Lake District National Parks (United Kingdom), Rapa Nui – Easter Island (Chile), Vancouver (Canada), La Palma (The Canaries, Spain), Etosha National Park (Namibia), Svalbard (Norway) and Wild Coast (South Africa).
Chair of Loop Head Tourism, Cillian Murphy said, “Loop Head’s inclusion in this prestigious list is a great honour for everyone concerned. It is the result of of a concerted voluntary effort to take responsibility for ensuring the long term sustainability of our community. We have set ourselves the target of becoming a best practice example of how tourism in a rural area should be developed and the award today goes a long way to
validating the choices we have made in the last five years to make that happen.”
He continued, “We have worked with Clare County Council, Failte Ireland and taken advice from companies such as Eco-Tourism Ireland to ensure that tourism is something that becomes a means for a marginalised community to survive into the future, ensuring our young people have jobs and that we don’t compromise our heritage, culture or landscape in the process. We live here, there are many reasons why we do but all of them are what makes it a fantastic place to visit, so it is in our own self interest to make sure we retain all the reasons we live here thus ensuring the sustainability of both ourselves and the area into the future.”
Ms Donnagh Gregson, chair of the Clare Tourism Forum, described Loop Head Peninsula’s inclusion in the Global Top 100 as a “coup for Clare and Irish tourism”.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.