More camper van sites and food festival among proposals in Tipperary Tourism action plan

A Visitor In Your Own County Day promotion, a Tipperary Food Producers Festival and development of more camper van parking facilities are among the initiatives proposed in a new tourism action plan for the Premier County.

The proposals are contained in the five-year draft Tipperary Tourism Roadmap for 2025-2030 that was debated at Tipperary County Council’s September meeting in Clonmel.

Details of the roadmap’s action plan were outlined in a presentation to the Council’s elected representatives by Tipperary Tourism Board Chairperson Helen King.

READ ALSO: Organisers estimate 1,000 people have used tourist bus serving Tipperary's Lingaun Valley

Ms King informed councillors the roadmap’s goal was to motivate domestic and international visitors to stay in Tipperary by playing to the county’s strengths as a destination for outdoor and heritage attractions.

It aimed to increase public awareness of Tipperary as a “year round” tourist destination in both the domestic and international markets and to promote a “slow tourism experiences” in the county.

Among the practical initiatives proposed in the plan is the hosting of a Visitor in Your Own County Day aimed at encouraging Tipperary people to visit destinations and attractions in their own county.

A similar initiative is the development of an Experience Tipperary Weekend marketing campaign in the off-peak tourism season to encourage domestic and international visitors to visit and stay in Tipperary.

The action plan proposes delivering a new annual festival or event to attract visitors and proposes that Tipperary Tourism work to host a major cultural event in the county.

A Tipperary Food Producers Festival focused initially on one core hub with a series of satellite locations is one such festival put forward in the plan, which also proposes developing food and drink experiences and trails with local food and drink producers.

Another initiative proposed is a Take a Hike project to promote extensive walking trails in the county with an “immediate focus” to be put on “growing awareness” of the 115km St Declan's Way between Cashel and Ardmore.

The action plan also proposes a Tipperary Tourism led project to assess the feasibility of developing camper van sites across the county and to develop a project with the relevant agencies to attract new start-up outdoor activity and attractions businesses in the county.

Ms King said they have seen the success of the camper van facilities at Suir Island in Clonmel and have identified it as a priority to develop more such facilities around the country.

She said Tipperary Tourism will immediately commence a feasibility study and implement its findings over the next few years.

The draft action plan received an overwhelmingly positive response from councillors at the Council meeting.

Newcastle Independent Cllr Máirín McGrath welcomed the Visit Your County Day proposal and looked forward to seeing it up and running.

She suggested Tipperary Tourism engage with the Local Link bus service to develop bus transport links to tourism attractions in rural Tipperary similar to the Lingaun Valley Loop bus link operating this summer.

Cloneen Fine Gael Cllr Mark Fitzgerald agreed encouraging local people to visit their own county should be promoted. He said there were many places in Tipperary he hasn’t visited and recounted the lovely time he recently spent in Dromineer.

“We have our big tourism hubs like Cashel and Cahir but we need to extend it out to the rural regions,” he said noting that from his experience as a publican tourists love seeing the real Ireland.

He pointed to Slievenamon and the medieval walled town of Fethard as examples of destinations that could be promoted more for tourism.

Cllr Fitzgerald pointed to the success of Route 66 in the US and the Wild Atlantic Way and suggested Tipperary should develop routes in the county they can promote to tourists to bring them into the heart of the county. The Kilkenny City to Cashel road was an example, he cited.

Clogheen Fine Gael Cllr Marie Murphy said there was a need for neighbouring county councils, like Waterford and Tipperary to jointly promote cross border destinations like the Vee Valley, Knockmealdown Mountains and St Declans Way.

Cashel Independent Cllr Liam Browne, meanwhile, expressed concern about the amount of hotel bedrooms removed from the county’s tourist accommodation offering due to the fact they are housing International Protection Applicants and Ukrainian war refugees.

Cahir Independent Cllr Andy Moloney suggested the Council find a way of encouraging more B&Bs to open in the county.

And Cllr John O'Heney called for Tipperary Town to be designated the tourist hub for west Tipperary's attractions ranging from the War of Independent monument at Solohead, the Glen of Aherlow and Galtee Mountains to the medieval village of Emly and Bansha Castle.

Ms King welcomed councillors’ support for the roadmap and noted Tipperary Tourism has begun working very closely with the Council’s district administrators.

She pointed out there is a plan in place to work with Fáilte Ireland on geographical clustering of towns and regions within the county to promote them for tourism with talks taking place about clustering Cahir, Clonmel, Cashel and Carrick-on-Suir.

READ NEXT: Tourism businesses in four Tipperary towns invited to breakfast briefing in Clonmel