A major marketing plan aimed at promoting tourism around Lough Derg

Creating a greenway along the Nenagh River linking the town with Dromineer should be a top priority to promote tourism and for the local community to enjoy, the leading official in Fáilte Ireland for the promotion of Lough Derg has been told.

Paddy Matthews, the Head of Fáilte Ireland's newly formed tourism region, Ireland's Hidden Heartlands, delivered an online presentation on the plans Fáilte Ireland has for the promotion of Nenagh and the Lough Derg area at a meeting of local councillors held on Zoom on Thursday of last week.

Councillor Hughie McGrath said the top priority for any plan to enhance the tourism offering in the Nenagh area would be to create a riverside link from the town itself to Dromineer. He said Fáilte Ireland and Tipperary County Council should engaged in a combined effort to ensure such an amenity became a reality.

He said there were currently a number of walkways along the Nenagh River, but the priority should be to ensure that a recreational route be extended right to the mouth of the river where it flows into the lake in Dromineer.

Mr Matthews said Lough Derg and the River Shannon was the most established tourism destination within the relatively new Hidden Heartlands region, established two years ago. As a relatively new brand, it would take time to transform the region into a significant tourism destination.

He revealed that Fáilte Ireland was set to launch a master plan for the development of tourism along the River Shannon in March.

The Shannon formed one spine of Hidden Heartlands, the other spine being the Beara Breifne Way walking route that passed Lorrha, and Portumna and encompassed twelve pre-existing way marks that were being stitched together to create a walk that had “Camino potential”. A development plan for the walk was “very much part of the future”. The focus at the moment was on survival due to the pandemic.

TASK FORCE

Mr Matthews informed councillors that a tourism recovery task force had been established to try to help struggling tourism providers in the Lough Derg area whose businesses had been badly hit by the Covid pandemic.

Fáilte Ireland would be aggressively promoting the Lough Derg area over the coming months as part of ongoing efforts that saw journalists and social media influencers holiday around the lake last year to promote public awareness of the many attraction of the area.

Currently, the Ireland's Hidden Heartlands region had only 4 per cent share of the domestic holiday sector. But going forward the aim was to grow the share by 3 per cent each year. “We have a realistic plan in place for slow but steady growth,” said Mr Matthews.

He said €1 million was being spent in the region to help 40 tourism providers upgrade their websites as a way of improving the region's ‘digital shop window’. A new business tourism marketing network for Lough Derg had been established with a business development programme in place.

Further funding would be announced on February 1st for certain tourism providers, such as boat providers, that had not received aid to date. Fáilte Ireland was continuing to work with Tipperary County Council to promote the Lough Derg area.

FABULOUS ATTRACTIONS

Councillor Phyll Bugler said that while the lake area had fabulous attractions, it was still drawing nothing like the volumes of visitors that flocked to places like Killarney. She herself had been 26 years involved in the local tourism sector. “But we still don't seem to be cracking this Lough Derg nut...we just don't seem to be getting the support for the gem that we have.”

Ballina-Killaloe, she said, was a world famous fishing destination with four to five hotels catering for anglers and visitors prior to the construction of the Ardnacrusha hydro-electric scheme in the 1930s.

Councillor Ger Darcy said the Lough Derg area had been promoted for “years and years” with limited success. Yet tourism was going to be very much a major part of rural areas going forward and the creation of the Hidden Heartlands region was the first real positive approach in promoting tourism along the Shannon throughout the central spine of the country.

WALKING ROUTE

Councillor Darcy said the move to develop the Beara Breifne Way held much promise for the eastern part of Lower Ormond and villages like Cloughjordan, Ballingarry and Lorrha which did not traditionally benefit greatly from tourism.

Councillor Joe Hannigan said the initiatives being undertaken at present to promote local tourism was exactly what was needed. The work carried out on promoting the Lough Derg area over the past twelve months had been very encouraging. “Forget the past. Here we have a plan that is results-driven and is going to yield results.”

Councillor Hannigan said the town of Nenagh would be the gateway to Lough Derg. It was very encouraging that plans were in place for a new tourist office in the town. While a local recreational walkway was an important feature to develop between the town and Lough Derg, similar walkways were needed in places like Coolbawn, Lorrha, Terryglass and Carrigahorig were there was no such amenities.

He said there was potential to create links between the Lough Derg Way and the Beara Breifne Way that passed by Lorrha. Community groups in the locality would embrace such initiatives.

Councillor Michael O' Meara said north Tipperary was the perfect destination for family holidays or anyone who wanted a ‘slow’ holiday. He said it was important that Fáilte Ireland took into account the view of local communities who were trying to promote tourism.

If such communities did not get help they tended to lose heart. Currently, there was funds provided for an interpretative centre in Lorrha which had historic ecclesiastic attractions that were second to none.

Covid had made it difficult to get the work on the centre started, but the area had a huge tourist offering as had places like the Shannon Callows and Rathcabbin.

PERFECT DESTINATION

Counillor John Carroll said north Tipperary, with its wealth of country walkways, pristine rivers and ecclesiastical heritage had a lot to offer visitors.

The value of such amenities had been realised for the first time by many people who appreciated them more due to the pandemic lockdowns when they had nowhere else to visit.

Cathaoirleach Councillor Séamus Morris said local people were so tied down by the pandemic that they found a new appreciation of the attractions in their own immediate environment.

“People are even driving into the countryside in the rain and enjoying themselves.”

Councillor Morris said it was important that the central attraction - the River Shannon - was not destroyed by allowing huge volumes of its waters to be piped to Dublin and the wider eastern and midland regions to bolster water supplies in those areas. North Tipperary was the perfect destination for wellness holidays, a sector that was growing twice as rapidly as other holidays within the tourism sector. This trend was something councillors and officials would have to take account of when drafting development plans.

Councillor John ‘Rocky’ McGrath said it was important that the upland areas of north Tipperary were promoted. The areas abounded in scenic mountain treks, but the rural roads to such beauty spots badly needed to be maintained and upgraded.

Sinead Cahalan, Tourism Officer for Tipperary, revealed that a new 10-year tourism marketing development plan for the area would be launched in March.