This article is from page 15 of the 2012-01-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 15 JPG
DEVELOPING new routes out of Shannon Airport has been identified as key to growing tourism in the Mid-West region as Clare gears up to position itself for the ‘The Gathering’ project that aims to bring over 300,000 extra visitors into Ireland in 2013.
In announcing its blueprint for tourism in the mid-west, Fáilte Ireland, has pledged to play its part in driving new business at Clare’s international airport – a commitment that was de- livered in the same week that passengers numbers at Shannon reduced to their lowest since 1994 when 1.5 million passengers were recorded.
It was revealed that 1.6m passengers used the airport in 2011, a figure that Fáilte Ireland’s head of operations in the region, Fiona Monaghan, said can be improved by the development of “a close working relationship with industry practitioners in the destination to grow international business through the development of authentic tourism experiences.
“Under our Sales Connect initiative, Fáilte Ireland will continue to work closely with Shannon Airport in the development of making the business case to support new route development into the region,” she added.
Fáilte Ireland’s new commitment to working with the airport to try and drive the region’s tourism product was announced in tandem with the launch of the Wild Atlantic Drive initiative at a briefing at the Radisson Hotel in Meelick on Wednesday last.
“Although 2011 was an encouraging year, there is no room for complacency,” sais Fáilte Ireland chief executive, Shaun Quinn. “We must all remain focussed on doing all we can to maintain a momentum towards recovery.
“Fáilte Ireland, through a mixture of marketing, supporting tourism businesses and developing attractive tourism destinations, will work closely to boost the full potential of the Shannon region in 2011,” he added.
“A key focus for 2012 will be the development of clearly defined destination development plans for West Clare,” said Fiona Monaghan.
“Key elements of the destination plans will be to maximise the sig- nificant investment in tourism product in the destination over the last two years and to have a strategic approach to future developments.
Looking to the east of the region, the Lakelands destination has a clearly defined work programme for the Lough Derg zone including the development of canoe trails, a tourism signage plan and a series of themed itineraries linking in to the overall Lakelands strategy. Fáilte Ireland will work closely with the Lough Derg Marketing Group in the implementation of these plans,” she added.