This article is from page 48 of the 2009-05-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 48 JPG
THE NORTH Clare tourism sector will receive a boost this week with the news of a €1 million investment by Cliffs of Moher Cruises, which will create four new jobs in the lo- cality. The company is set to for- mally launch the Doolin Discovery which will allow for the creation of two new routes to and from the Aran Island.
According to Eugene Garrihy of the Cliffs of Moher tours, the new expansions will help attract more tourists to the Doolin area and help all businesses 1n north Clare.
‘The boat is called the Doolin Dis- covery and it is the sister ship to the boat we already operate, the Jack B. The boat will be used on the Aran Island’s routes as well as the Cliffs of Moher cruises. We are develop- ing the business; we have not gone to Inis Mor and Inis Meain before now, so these are two new routes that we are putting on because of the new boats,” he said .
‘As everyone knows all businesses in Clare, and north Clare in particu- lar, are going through a difficult time because of this recession. So I think that this is a welcome addition to the facilities that are on offer in north Clare for tourists. As well as that,
it is a substantial investment on our behalf so it shows that we are confi- dent that we can develop the business there more in the future.
“It’s a very difficult time for the tourism sector at the moment, espe- cially for the people who run hotels and bed and breakfasts. So it is all about an area being able to offer dif- ferent services to tourists. One of the big problems traditionally with tourism in north Clare is that a lot of people have traditionally gone from Kerry to Galway and bypassed a lot of north Clare.
“The Cliffs of Moher has done a lot to tackle that over the last number of years through the centre that they have build up there and the area is starting to hold more people over night. That is what we are hoping to do – even if it’s just a case of hold- ing people for one extra night in the area.
“Tt will also see the creation of four extra jobs in the area which is an ex- tra boost. The tourism businesses in north Clare are all linked together. We think that this will help other businesses in the area and we would be hopeful of getting support from the business community in the area as well.”