Tourists saving Kilkee’s summer

Loop Head Tourism chairman Cillian Murphy has told The Clare Champion that while domestic visitor numbers to Kilkee this summer has declined, local tourism operators have reported a significant increase in overseas visitors to the area.

“Having spoken to the guesthouse owners in Kilkee, they all showed an increase in foreign visitors to the area in May,” he confirmed.

However, Mr Murphy said the struggling domestic economy has led directly to a decrease in Irish people visiting Kilkee and the Loop Head peninsula. “Kilkee traditionally has relied on domestic tourism but the domestic market is in a hole. Take out the foreign market and we really are in trouble. Kilkee on its own relies on Limerick but the domestic market is not good, therefore we’re suffering. Everyone in town is giving out that there’s less of our traditional market here. There’s a fall-off in domestic business. There’s no money in the country. People are afraid of spending a cent. If they’ve got a few quid at the end of the week, they’re saving it, not spending it,” he said.

Mr Murphy links the improvement in the overseas market to last year’s opening of Loop Head lighthouse and links between Loop Head Tourism and sister organisations in Dingle, for example.

“Our overseas tourists are coming to us specifically to see the Loop Head peninsula. When I’m going around talking to people, this is what I’m hearing. People are coming to us from the Dingle peninsula. Loop Head Tourism has made contact with Dingle Tourism and while it’s at a very early stage, it’s something that we’re going to be working on from September for the following year. We know the people that come from Dingle are the people we want here. They want to experience a bit of wildness, local nature and local people,” Mr Murphy maintained.

“It’s up to us to capture them and make sure they stay here for a day or two. What we’re trying to do is bring people to the area. We’re not trying to bring them to any specific business in the area, we just want them to come here. That’s specifically to do with the media and with the work Loop Head Tourism is doing, putting the place on the map,” he said, adding that Loop Head lighthouse is currently attracting reasonable daily visitor numbers.

“Loop Head lighthouse, which opened for 2012 in late May, is attracting about 100 visitors a day at the minute, which is not huge numbers but it’s ticking away. Multiply that by three months and you’re looking at decent visitor numbers,” he said.

On Tuesday, Loop Head Tourism hosted a networking workshop in Kilkee at which a Fáilte Ireland representative outlined how Westport tourism interests market their town. “All the businesses in Westport put their marketing budget into a kitty and Fáilte Ireland match-fund that and market Destination Westport. They don’t market Destination Kilbaha or Destination Kilkee. In our case we’re trying to market Destination Loop Head,” he stated.