This article is from page 6 of the 2007-09-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
A PAN-European project designed to promote a more local approach to tourism promotion could help the industry in Clare to better cope with seasons with poor visitor numbers, such as those reported this year.
The CANTATA project, which in- volves members from Wales, France, Portugal and Spain, as well as Ire- land, hosts a conference entitled ‘An Experiment In Community Tourism’ in Ballyvaughan’s Burren Hotel this Friday.
“This 1s an experiment in commu- nity-based developments in tourism and promotion. We are trying to en- courage communities to take owner- ship of their own tourism develop- ment. It’s things like festivals, but the project has been going for three years and the purpose of the con- ference is for members from all of the countries to report back on how their experiences have gone,” said Candace Ingram, Executive Planner,
Clare County Council.
“They have all been undertaking different projects and each country has adopted a different approach to community tourism development. The idea now is that each country will report back — it’s a learning experience, we are all learning from each other.”
Among those scheduled to address the conference are Luis Cohen Bro- ssie, a tourism expert from Galicia in Spain; Paddy Maher, tourism com- munity activist and manager of the Michael Cusack Centre; and Flavio Imperial, CANTATA project officer from Portugal.
“We do think that this approach will help to offset bad years for tour- ism such as we have had this year. The visitor now is looking for some- thing a bit different from the usual. The idea of this is that it will attract people away from the usual places and show them a real tourist experi- ence, experience the people and how they live their life everyday,” contin-
ued Ms Ingram.
“We are trying to increase the num- bers that come to Clare, how long they stay in the county and also at- tract them to the lesser known attrac- nto) n cn
The conference will be hosted by Clare County Council in partnership with Shannon Development, and will be officially opened by Minister Tony Killeen.
“There are many types of com- munity tourism projects, including those in which the community works in partnership with a commercial tour operator,” said Minister Kileen. “However, one uniform characteris- tic of such projects is that they give local people a fair share of the bene- fits and a say in deciding how incom- ing tourism is managed. I look for- ward to hearing from some of those involved with community tourism projects across Europe.”