Tourism info points beat seasonal offices

WITH Fáilte Ireland yet to confirm if seasonal tourism offices will open in Kilrush and Kilkee next month, Loop Head Tourism chairman, Cillian Murphy has told The Clare Champion that year-round community information points, located in existing businesses, could be a better option.

 

“I would be much happier to have an information point in a local business, operated by local people, 365 days a year. Our understanding is that Fáilte Ireland would put an expression of interest out to see if any current business was interested in talking it on.

“We are always giving out that the Kilkee tourist office is only open from May 15 to September 2, whereas if we have an official Fáilte Ireland information point, it goes on the Discover Ireland map of information points. So tourists know there’s an official tourist information point in Kilkee. We’re probably better off having a local business, which is open full time, operating it,” the Kilkee and Kilrush restaurateur said.

“The figures last year said 2,300 people came through the door of the tourist office in Kilkee. There can’t be too many shops in the country that wouldn’t appreciate having 2,300 people walking in the front door,” he maintained.

Mr Murphy feels a year-round information point could be opened in several towns and villages in West Clare. “I would see Kilrush having the same. I can’t see any reason why Doonbeg, Carrigaholt or Kildysart cannot have one as well, as long as there’s a business prepared to take it on and deliver tourist information in a professional manner,” the tourism committee chairman said.

He noted that while Fáilte Ireland don’t specialise in seasonal tourism offices, the prospect of keeping the Kilrush and Kilkee offices open for the 2013 summer season has not been completely ruled out.

“Fáilte Ireland don’t do seasonal tourist offices but because the handover between Fáilte Ireland and Shannon Development is ongoing, we’ve been told it’s possible that the tourist offices in Kilkee and Kilrush might open,” he stated.

“They have a national strategy and their policy is that seasonal tourist offices don’t work. I heard a statistic recently that, three years ago, Fáilte Ireland had 80 seasonal tourist offices and now they have none. There is much discussion as to whether tourist offices work or not,” Mr Murphy said.

Acknowledging that people might see the closure of seasonal tourism offices as a retrograde step, Mr Murphy maintains community or tourism information points are a viable option.

“This has only been put out there in the last couple of weeks but, having said that, Loop Head Tourism is wide open to anything that puts tourism information front and centre all year round. If this is the way it’s going to happen, I wouldn’t see anyone in Loop Head Tourism arguing that point,” he said.

“We could make the point that Fáilte Ireland are, in one sense, walking away from their responsibilities at a very local level. If you’re trying to bring tourists to the country, the real tourism experiences are at a local level. If you’re not delivering professional, tourism information at a local level, well then you could argue that there’s a bit of a failure there. But I would think that it’s going to be a good thing to have a community information point open 52 weeks of the year. However it’s going to be very important that Fáilte Ireland provide all the back-up,” he concluded.