The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
OVER-TOURISM and the emergence of “rusty buckets” is one of the threats to towns and villages in some of Clare’s tourist hotspots, a meeting has heard. That’s according to the initial findings of pilot study looking at the impact of pre- and post-Covid commuting patterns in Ennistymon and Lahinch. ‘InPLACE: Investigating Place, Planning and Commuting’, has initially focused on Ennistymon-Lahinch and Newtownmountkennedy, Wicklow. At the September meeting of the west Clare municipal district (MD), researcher and geographer Brendan O’Keeffe said the study’s initial findings highlighted the danger of over-tourism and the emergence of “rusty buckets” in north and west Clare. Mr O’Keeffe said that while Clare attracts a high level of coach and package tourism, visitors often do not spend money locally and instead are based in larger urban centres away from the communities in question. He told the meeting that to avoid the emergence of what he called “rusty buckets”, tourism “needs to deliver for the local economy and …
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