Tag Archives: Minister for Tourism

FUNDING of €186,975 has been allocated to Clare County Council to transform parts of Ennis to facilitate permanent outdoor dining. Francis Street, Lower Parnell Street, Abbey Street Car Park and the Temple Gate Plaza are set to benefit from the funding announced under Fáilte Ireland’s Outdoor Dining Enhancement Scheme. Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin TD and Fáilte Ireland announced the locations of 38 permanent Outdoor Dining facilities to be developed in 19 counties nationwide, including Clare. Fáilte Ireland’s Outdoor Dining Enhancement Scheme opened for applications in March 2021 and comprises two parts. Wednesday’s announcement relates to Part Two of the scheme. All local authorities were invited to apply to Fáilte Ireland for funding under Part Two – Local Authority Weatherproofing & Outdoor Dining Enhancement Scheme – to develop streets and public spaces to facilitate year-round weather-proofed outdoor dining in urban tourism centres.  Part One of the Scheme – Outdoor Seating and Accessories – supports individual hospitality businesses with grants of …

A MAJOR promotional push of the Burren Ecotourism Network is being planned in the wake of the local initiative becoming the only Irish tourism project to be included in the Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel picks for 2021. Naming the Burren Ecotourism Network one of ten world-wide winners in its new ‘Best in Community’ category this week Lonely Planet described it as “an impressive community collaboration of over 60 local enterprises which has transformed Ireland’s Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark into a global leader for sustainable tourism. Joining together to promote slow tourism, local engagement and a greater responsibility for a more sustainable future for all in the area. All enterprises subscribe to the Burren & Cliffs of Moher Geopark ‘Code of Sustainable Practice’. This is an online platform that measures waste output, water consumption and energy usage and encourages each business to make reductions in these areas. The Code of Practice is the only one of its kind in …

Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Patrick O’Donovan has unveiled the route for the Shannon Estuary Drive – the first in what is hoped to be a series of drives to be developed by Fáilte Ireland in collaboration with local stakeholders The aim is to encourage visitors to discover the variety of inland visitor experiences as they travel along the Wild Atlantic Way. The Shannon Estuary drive is a looped route of approximately 135 miles. “The Shannon Estuary Way new visitor experience provides a significant opportunity for Limerick and Ennis, as gateway towns to the Wild Atlantic Way, and will open up the region’s inland hinterland to visitors as well as support the strong local accommodation base and variety of visitor attractions and services along the route. “As the Wild Atlantic Way continues to grow, we can now start to develop additional experiences for visitors to enjoy and, through initiatives like this, we can start to develop tourism activity …

The latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures on overseas travel shows an increase of 12.2% in visits to Ireland for the first seven months of 2015 compared to the same period of 2014. Tourism Minister Paschal Donohoe said, ‘I am pleased to welcome the statistics from the CSO which confirms the on-going strong performance in overseas visitors coming to Ireland. It is very encouraging that the growth in our overseas visitors is not confined to any particular region and all of our target overseas markets are performing exceptionally well.’ The latest CSO figures on Overseas Travel show: At 4,814,600 visits, overall trips to Ireland were up 12.2% in the first seven months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. Visits from Mainland Europe grew by 12.7% for January to July 2015 (1,712,800 visits); North America registered an increase of 14.9% for January – July 2015 (857,100 visits); Visits from Great Britain were up by 11.1% for January – …

Following on from a good year for overseas visitors to Ireland in 2014, indications are that this trend is set to continue, which augurs well for tourism in Clare. CSO data releaased this week shows that the number of overseas visits between November 2014 and January 2015 increased by 9.1% compared to the corresponding period for 2013/2014. The CSO Quarterly National Household Survey shows further positive results for the sector with the numbers employed in the accommodation and food services sector (seasonally adjusted) increasing by 1,600. Tourism Minister Paschal Donohoe welcomed the positive data in respect of overseas tourism. ‘I am very pleased to see that our overseas visitors continue to grow. 2014 saw the fourth consecutive year of growth in visitor numbers. In fact, 2014 broke all previous records in terms of the number of overseas visits from key markets like North America, Germany, France and Spain. We have targeted further growth in 2015 and as part of the …

A DELEGATION of 15 Irish tourism companies, including Shannon Heritage and five American tour operator partners, last week joined with Tourism Ireland in targeting hundreds of travel agents and influential journalists in Fort Worth, Houston and Austin in Texas With a population of about 28 million, the state of Texas is becoming an increasingly important market for tourism to the island of Ireland. This is something which bodes well for Shannon Airport where  transatlantic services have been increased this year. Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Michael Ring also travelled with the group for the second of its ‘Jump into Ireland’ 2014 sales blitzes in the US. Tourism Ireland also introduced the country’s newest tourism experience, the Wild Atlantic Way at the various events. Similar ‘Jump into Ireland’ events will take place in Chicago and Boston, in September, as well as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, in November.