This article is from page 4 of the 2014-03-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
EVEN on the back of the Gathering and a reinvigoration of the American market.
Early bookings for Clare in 2014 indicate a major growth in visitors from England, mainland Europe, especially Germany, and Irish tourists.
Despite a slow start to 2014, brought about as a result of the storms in January and February, early booking at the Cliffs of Moher put them on target for a sizable increase on 2013, which was the attraction’s best year on record. If these number continue throughout the year, the Cliffs should break the one million visitor mark for the first time ever.
Despite a 12 per cent drop in visitors numbers to the Cliffs of Moher so far this year, manager Katherine Webster is predicting a healthy growth over the 12 months of 2014.
“No less than the rest of coastal County Clare, the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience had a challenging enough start to the year with the storm conditions experienced in January and the first half of February. Extreme weather led to the visitor centre clos- ing on a total of seven days in these two months. Prior to 2014, the Cliffs of Moher visitor centre had closed a total of 7 times in 7 years,” she said.
“As a result of the storm closures our visitor numbers for the first two months of the year are down on last year by 12 per cent on the same period in 2013. However, the month of March has started strongly and our advance bookings for the remainder of this month and for the season ahead are ahead of last years levels.”
Ennis hotelier Brian O’Neil yesterday urged Clare businesses to take advantage of the tourism trends and put Clare back on the Irish and inter- national map. He cites the introduction of a regular and inexpensive bus connections between Dublin and Ennis by Dublin Coaches a game changer for the local tourism market.
“There is a sea-change coming for tourism in Ennis and in Clare. The problem for tourism over the last few years has been the day tours coming out of Dublin to the Cliffs of Moher and other venues and spending very little in Clare,” he said.
“They [Dublin Coaches/Quick Tours] are going to make Ennis their mid-west hub. So people can stay in Ennis for a number of days and take day trips to the Ring of Kerry.