This article is from page 9 of the 2011-06-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 9 JPG
FOUR of Clare’s prime tourism hotspots will come together this Friday to launch a major new ticketing strategy, which they hope can attract thousands of extra tourists to the Banner county in years to come.
By using a special Burren4Group ticket members of the public will now be able to access the Cliffs of Moher, the Aillwee Caves, Caherconnell Stone Fort in Carron and the Burren Centre in Kilfenora for a fraction of the previous costs.
Several thousands copies of the special ticket will be circulated to hotels and guesthouse around Ireland, allowing anyone access to all four tourism location for just € 18 – a saving almost half on the non-ticket price to enter the four sites.
The initiative is designed to both attract tourist to the area but to also encourage the more of the 700,000 tourists who visit the Cliffs of Moher each year to stay overnight in the area or possibly for a number of days or a weekend.
“This really came about following the realisation that we are living in recessionary times and people don’t have the money to go to all the different centres. This is a combination of offering people good value but also offering them something really special. We have the iconic Cliffs of Moher, Aillwee, the fort in Caherconnell and ourselves, so you have a bit of everything that you might want,” said Frances Connole of the Burren Centre.
“Hopefully that this will get people to stay longer in the area and ultimately that is what all of this is about. This is not a day trip, we have so many great facilities here are there really is something for everyone.”
The scheme will be launched on a pilot basis by the Minister for Tourism, Michael Ring (FG) in Kilfenora this Friday. It is hoped that the ticket will be rolled out on a widespread basis should it prove to be a success this year.
“If this is successful, we build on that success in future years. We don’t want to rush into anything. At the moment the ticket is aimed only for individual travellers but down the road we will look at things like family tickets and things like that,” continued Frances. “It is just too early to roll that all out now. We need to float the idea and make sure that people will be happy with it and that it will work. It is a new project and a big innovation for this region so we need to be sure before we proceed. I think people will be interested in it though. This is about working together and networking together instead of always looking over the water and being in competition. It is a good idea and I think that people will like it.”