This article is from page 16 of the 2012-04-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
THERE have been calls for Ennis Town Council to build on plans to further exploit the potential of coachbased tourism.
Last week, the council announced that additional bus and coach parking spaces have been allocated in the Friars Walk area of the town centre, located adjacent to Clare Museum.
The council is also investigating a number of other capital projects, including the development of a dedicated bus park equipped with main- tenance facilities for tour operators.
According to the Chairman of the Ennis Municipal Policy Committee (MPC), Cllr Johnny Flynn, job creation could be boosted if Ennis taps into the estimated € 500,000 weekly spend generated by coach tourists.
He explained, “If just a quarter of the estimated 120 tour buses passing Ennis each day during the tourist season could be attracted to stop in Ennis, it would mean up to 30 busloads spending € 3,000 each – that is, € 90,000 per day in and around Ennis, or € 540,000 per week.
“With an average staff cost per- centage of turnover of 15 per cent in SMEs, this would be € 81,000 in wages each week. This could create up to 100 jobs in retail, hospitality, restaurants, etc.
“By having a minimum of 15 coach parking spaces that figure of 30 coach loads a day could be achieved, as the spaces would be used at least twice a day.”
The Fine Gael councillor continued, “I raised the topic last autumn, seeking urgent action in order to generate economic activity and therefore create local jobs that were being lost to other towns with proper bus park- ing facilities.
“In proposing the notice of motion, I advised the meeting that O’Connell Street had been voted one of the 60 best public spaces in the world by USA organisation Publicspaces.org and that we were not capitalising on coach tours.
“There was general support for the notice of motion at the October meeting and, during the 2012 Budget discussions in December 2011, there was a commitment to progress a number of actions in the parking area in 2012 which should assist in stimulating economic activity in the town.”
Cllr Flynn pointed to figures from Fáilte Ireland that show that tourism numbers were up in 2011 and further increases are expected this year.
He welcomed last week’s announcement from the council.
“It’s great to see some extra bus spaces being provided but we need urgent extra progress – for example, the eight bus spaces in Friar’s Walk short-stay car park that were previously for buses could be urgently added to the attractiveness of the town for bus drivers and to get greater capacity.”