Tag Archives: tourists

AMERICAN accents will be heard around Clare more frequently from next Thursday, with transatlantic flights finally resuming from Shannon. With Americans well known as big spenders, it is great news for the Banner’s tourism sector, which has had to cope without them for the last two years. Maurice Walsh is general manager of Durty Nelly’s in Bunratty and he said the return of the Americans will be very welcome. “We are looking forward to it with anticipation. It’s going to be a great bonus to the airport and a great bonus to the area. The flights at Shannon at the moment are really just moving Irish people in and out of the country, but the American flights will bring the tourists back into the area.” He says that he expects business to pick up significantly. “We have a lot of bookings at the start of next week. It’s the usual St Patrick’s Day rush that comes in through Shannon. They …

Clare is being “poorly served” by the tourism industry, according to Kilkee-based business man and tourism consultant Cillian Murphy, while he believes the county should strive to attract fewer tourists but more bed nights. Mr Murphy has also suggested that the county is not benefiting sufficiently from the more than one million annual visitors to the Cliffs of Moher, with thousands of tourists arriving on a tour bus and then leaving after their visit without spending a bob. The former chairman of Loop Head Tourism believes Clare should not try to increase visitor numbers but should seek to provide more accommodation options across the county. “We do not necessarily need to attract more visitors. The marketing of Clare has been exceptional and has delivered ever-increasing numbers of visitors over the past 20 years. Our problem is we are not reaping the rewards in terms of the local economic benefits in our rural and coastal economies, such as local job opportunities. …

For the fourth year in succession, the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience has exceeded the one million mark for visitors within a calendar year. The world-famous visitor attraction reached the figure on Friday last, August 11, exactly 11 days ahead of the date the figure was reached in 2016 and exactly 10 weeks earlier than when the milestone was first reached in 2014. The North Clare visitor attraction is now on track to exceed its record visitor total of 1,427,166 people in 2016. The Clare County Council owned attraction has undergone substantial investment in product and facilities in recent years while its position as a Signature Point along the 2,500km Wild Atlantic Way has contributed to its growing popularity. While welcoming the continuing increase in popularity of the attraction, the Director of the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience says measures continue to be put in place to accommodate the increase in numbers sustainably. “These significant visitor numbers are fantastic for …

Shannon Ferries in Killimer joined Tourism Ireland at the Classic Motor Show in Birmingham over the weekend in a drive to entice British tourists to the county by highlighting car touring holidays in Clare. The Classic Motor Show is an annual event which takes place over three days at the NEC in Birmingham. It attracts around 65,000 people, offering an excellent platform to spread the world about car touring holidays around Ireland among car enthusiasts – and prospective holidaymakers for Ireland – in Britain. Vanessa Markey, Tourism Ireland’s Head of Great Britain, said: “The Classic Motor Show was another excellent opportunity to highlight our superb driving routes, including the spectacular Wild Atlantic Way. Tourism Ireland is actively promoting longer-stay holidays and encouraging British travellers to come and discover Ireland by car. Visitors who use a car on holidays tend to stay longer, spend more and are more likely to visit more than one region. “Since the UK referendum on Brexit, …

A NORTH Clare man is introducing tourists to the mysteries of the Burren. Enda McGuane, founder of West Coast Cycle Tours, explained how visits from friends inspired his flagship tour, the Wild Atlantic Day. “I got a bike about seven or eight years ago on the Bike to Work Scheme and am living in Kilnamona so I’m close to the Burren and the coast, so I came up with this from cycling around on my own and with my friends and seeing what was out there that was good to do. When my friends from outside the county or from college would come up to visit, I’d take them to these places,” he said. “The one thing about cycling here is that it is not as safe in Ireland as it is on the continent but we have tried to pick the most scenic and safe routes. The Western Greenway and the West Clare Railway are great starts in providing …

The Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience in Liscannor was the country’s second most popular destination with tourists as nearly 1.1million people visited the North Clare attraction last year. Figures released by Fáilte Ireland show that the Cliffs of Moher centre was second only to Guinness Storehouse in Dublin which pulled in 1,269,371 visitors.  The Liscannor attraction leapfrogged Dublin Zoo as the country’s second most popular destination. Bunratty Castle is the country’s 11th most popular paid tourist attraction with 295,000 people passing through its gates  while Ailwee Cave and Birds of Prey Centre in Ballyvaughan visited by 120,000 paying customers. Minister of State for Transport, Tourism & Sport Michael Ring acknowledge, “Our great variety of attractions, whether free or fee-paying, is an important part of our allure to visitors and add to the positive experience enjoyed by tourists here. Over the last few years, this Government has invested significantly in new and existing attractions and is committed to ensuring our attractions …

Millions of French commuters are seeing ads for Ireland on large billboard posters as they pass through the busy metro stations of Paris. Tourism Ireland in Paris has teamed up with French airline Transavia to highlight the new daily flight from Paris-Orly Airport to Dublin, which is due to begin on 1 June. The campaign with Transavia includes some 550 ads in the Paris metro highlighting great value fares to Ireland, which are grabbing the attention of commuters with a beautiful image of the Cliffs of Moher – and reminding them why they should put Ireland on their holiday wish-list for 2015. It includes online advertising and a competition on Facebook. This is the first time that Transavia will fly to a northern European destination. Ireland is not currently served from Orly Airport – so the new flight represents an important opportunity for both leisure and business tourism from the all-important French market. France is one of our top four …

UNITED Airlines has re-introduced its summer Shannon-Chicago service. 2013 was the first year of it and this summer it has been extending, running from May 23 to September 15. The frequency of it will be five flights weekly from May 23 to June 16, daily from June 17 to August 18, five weekly again from August 19 to September 1 and four a week from September 2 to September 15. “We’re delighted to re-introduce and extend our summer service between Shannon and Chicago in response to the great customer support we received last year,” said Yvonne Muldoon, United’s sales manager for Ireland. “We are pleased to offer more flexibility and choice for our Irish customers, not only to Chicago, but to over 300 destinations across the Americas.” There will be 169 seats on the flights, which will depart Shannon at 11am and arrive in Chicago at 1.15pm the same day, local time. The return flight will leave Chicago at 6.25pm …