Tourism in Offaly is going through a challenging time at the moment
THE tourism industry in Offaly is going through a challenging time, a recent meeting of Offaly County Council was told.
Olive Farrelly, Tourism Officer for the county, told the meeting that there are significant problems in the industry at the moment including energy costs, staff shortages, lack of accommodation in the county, and high insurance costs.
“It's a difficult time for many involved in the industry,” she commented, “but Offaly's tourism operators are resilient and determined which gives me hope that they will pull through.”
Ms Farrelly pointed out that there's much to be positive about. “The county now sits wholely within the Ireland's Hidden Heartlands region “which is really positive for us. It's a better brand, from our point of view, than Ireland's Ancient East.
“During the year we in Offaly Tourism produced a number of good quality promotional videos which highlighted the many attractions we have in the county.
“A US TV station came over during the year and did a feature on the county. The station has 40 million viewers.
“Offaly Tourism engaged a very good PR company to help us out from February to October this year. There has been plenty of national media coverage during 2022.
“We produced a 50 page Offaly outdoor brochure. I'd strongly advise getting a copy. It's very good.”
She said there was a great turnout for Tullamore Show which was a very successful day blessed with excellent weather.
She said Offaly Tourism is delighted with its new website.
The Tourism Officer added that Birr hopes to host the Ballooning Championships once again in 2023. “The Destination Towns scheme is ongoing in Birr and it's hoped to complete it in 2023.
“In the Slieve Bloom Bike Trails there will be a smaller kids friendly trail beside the GAA pitch in Kinnitty. It will be family friendly and therefore an easier level to the other trails."
She said €68 million from the Just Transition fund is being given to Fáilte Ireland which will be distributed to the eight counties in the Just Transition region. “We will be fighting for our fair share,” she promised.
She added that while the last few years have been challenging “we did build on, we did improve the Offaly Tourism brand. There is much to be positive about and we are looking forward to working away on the positives during 2023.”
Cllr Seán O'Brien thanked Olive for her excellent presentation. “We look forward to the developments you talked about. Your presentation gave me the sense that there is a strong focus on a decent and thorough strategy going forward.
“However I think the Grand Canal doesn't feature enough in that strategy. Yes we are focussed on the Greenway but we should focus on its water as well, a unique feature. It's a unique bit of infrastructure. We shouldn't overlook the waterways aspect of it. Tullamore Harbour will play a very big role in future years. At the moment there's a number of mooring spots in Athlone – we could do the same in Tullamore and Edenderry.”
Cllr Tony McCormack spoke of the insufficient amount of accommodation in the county. “Some accommodation is being taken up by refugees which will put even more pressure on us as a county. Can we do more? Farmhouses and B&Bs are a more personalised touch than hotels; many US tourists prefer that more individualistic, personalised touch, as opposed to the more generic offering from hotel chains.
“With regards to the Grand Canal Greenway I would like to see Cafés, Restaurants, B&Bs developed on it. We need to maximise its potential.” Cllr McCormack pointed out that for many years Offaly's tourism offering wasn't promoted enough. That has changed.
Eddie Fitzpatrick said Croghan Hill is seeing a lot of visitors. “It would be nice to see similar numbers attending Derryounce paths and lakes.” He said Derryounce isn't being promoted enough. “The festivals in Edenderry aren't being promoted enough either, festivals like the angling festival.”
Cllr Fitzpatrick said it would be nice to see the various Greenways joining together, “so you could cycle or walk from one end of the county to the other, such as from Edenderry to Birr.”
“We are starting from a fairly low base in Offaly,” commented Cllr Eamon Dooley. “Bord na Móna got €108 million in funding from Just Transition and we haven't seen the promised amenities from that funding.”
He spoke of the wilderness corridor and linking the villages and towns with waymarked ways. “We have excellent sections of Greenways but we don't have everything pulled together. Bad signage is another issue.”
Cllr Declan Harvey pointed out that the tourism office in Tullamore is run by volunteers. “The office has made a huge difference,” he said, “and it's a busy enough place during the summer.” The councillor added that the Grand Canal Greenway fills him with a positive mood. “I think eventually we can connect every corner of the county to the Greenway. Shane Lowry's new bar and restaurant in the former Tullamore Dew Heritage Centre is another positive development.”
Cllr John Carroll said Offaly has an enormous amount to offer in tourism terms, “and the constant, steady stream of positive PR stating this fact will eventually have the desired effect. We have a great variety of different tourism offerings in the county. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of people in the county who haven't cottoned on to the fact that there are positive spinoffs from tourism. The Tourism Offices are vital and I think we could do with another one in the south of the county, promoting our attractions in the Kilcormac, Cloghan, Ferbane and Shannonbridge areas. We also have three very good golf courses in Offaly but unfortunately we are not attracting as many golfers as we could be to them. One advantage we have in rural areas as opposed to the cities is that the daily costs for tourists such as accommodation, food, drink, transport, are lower. A lack of beds in Offaly is often a problem. For example during the Ballooning Festival in Birr there simply wasn't enough beds for the visitors.
“Regarding the Just Transition funding my hope is that it will back a flagship project in the county.”
Cllr Peter Ormond pointed out that “there's a job of work to be done to change some people's negative opinion of the possibilities of tourism.” He said the Grand Canal Greenway “is a unique thing which has the potential to attract a lot more visitors to our region. I think we should focus more on the high quality experiences to be enjoyed in Offaly, such as our excellent festivals which showcase the best things in our communities.”
Cllr John Clendennen commented that a lot has been achieved by Offaly Tourism “but there's still a lot more to be done, there's a lot more potential. I agree with Cllr Ormond that we need to highlight our wonderful festivals more. Birr is one of the largest festival destinations in the midlands and yet we don't have enough accommodation to meet that. Regarding the Just Transition funding I think we need to think big and bold, such as perhaps creating a National Events Centre in Offaly, or conferring National Parks status on our boglands. It's disappointing that only 20% of tourism stakeholders have signed up for membership of Offaly Tourism. Perhaps there shouldn't be a membership fee? That might attract more members.
“We need to get the message out there that Offaly is very much open for tourism. We are still an emerging market in tourism terms and we need more investment. We should be thinking of ways in which the County Council can attract more investment towards tourism in the county.”
Cllr Liam Quinn pointed out that the trail on Croghan Hill is very popular with people. “I think we should link it with the Grand Canal Greenway. It would be lovely to be able to walk from the Greenway all the way to the top of Croghan Hill.” He said the maintenance costs of looking after the Greenway will be significant and perhaps some of the Just Transition €68 million could go towards that. “It goes without saying that we should get more Just Transition funding than the other counties.”
Cllr John Leahy said it was disappointing to see only 69 tourism providers are members of Offaly Tourism. He said he would like to see the membership increase to 200 tourism providers. “How many people are involved in the hospitality sector in Offaly? I often think that a lot of young people wouldn't be able to fund their way through college if it wasn't for being able to find jobs in cafés, restaurants, pubs.”
Cllr Leahy added that one of the challenges facing Offaly Tourism is getting more visitors to stay longer, to stay for two, three, four nights. He urged everyone to say positive things about tourism in Offaly on social media, and to constantly get a positive message out there. He talked about the proposed project to link Kilcormac to Lough Boora in terms of tourism interaction. He said Bord na Móna's response is often not great. “We need to ask Bord na Móna to engage with our three Municipal Districts because that might lead to a more positive relationship.”
“Money talks,” said Cllr Mark Hackett, “and unfortunately the budget for Offaly Tourism doesn't look big enough. More funding is needed.”
Cllr Noel Cribbin said Offaly will never be able to compete with places like Kerry or Donegal but it can still make a really good shot at it. He said €68 million of Just Transition funding going solely to tourism didn't feel right to him, as there are other worthy causes which should receive funding.
Olive Farrelly said €30 million will be going towards 100 kilometres of trails; €25 million will be going towards amenities; €3 million for accommodation; and €10 million for smart solutions. She said places like Donegal and Kerry are given bigger budgets for tourism marketing.
Olive said Offaly Tourism is encouraging tourism providers to carry out more customer surveys. She added that Fáilte Ireland has been very poor with its visitor numbers data during the last couple of years, because of Covid.
She said membership of Offaly Tourism is only €100, “which is not a lot. I think a lot of tourism providers, because of staff shortages, feel they don't have the time to come to our meetings and that's why there aren't more members.
“There will definitely be a huge focus on creating more jobs through the various trails in the county.”