Fáilte Ireland says the hard work needs to continue
More photos:
DESPITE recent upbeat reports regarding an increase in overseas visitors to Ireland in 2011, Fáilte Ireland has warned Kerry tourism businesses against complacency.
During its annual tourism industry briefing for the Kerry region held in Killarney last week, the national tourism development authority stressed that the hard lessons and good work of the last few years will need to continue and will be central to maintaining a momentum towards a full recovery in tourism.
"Although 2011 was an encouraging year, there is no room for complacency. We must all remain focussed on doing all we can to maintain a momentum towards recovery. Fáilte Ireland, through a mixture of marketing, supporting tourism businesses and developing attractive tourism destinations, will work closely to boost the full potential of the Kerry region in 2012," Fáilte Ireland CEO, Shaun Quinn told the meeting.
Head of Operations for Fáilte Ireland in the South West, Fiona Buckley said that a key focus for Kerry in 2012 will be to support both existing and new businesses in their efforts to win a greater share of the international tourism market and particularly focus on core markets in Europe, the UK and the USA. Walking and activity based tourism will continue to form a focal point of activity in 2012.
Ms Buckley emphasised that activities being carried out by the family fun group in North Kerry, and the adventure and activity groups in Killarney, the Ring of Kerry and Dingle were vital in adding to the variety of quality and entertaining reasons to visit the area.
She said that events such as the Dingle Food and Wine Festival, Killarney Summerfest and Listowel Writers Week are hugely important to the tourism development of Kerry this year.
"Visitors don't just come for the landscape and scenery - they want a quality interactive experience and festivals and events can play a big part this for the Kerry region. The staging of key festivals and other events based around the Gathering will all bring in significant revenue and overseas media coverage of the region," she said.
"We will be working closely with local industry here in Kerry to ensure that the key festival and events are supported and marketed even in these difficult economic times and that these events generate as much publicity for Kerry as possible, not just in Ireland but overseas as well."
Further important work will take place in 2012 in the region through a focused destination development plan for Killarney and the Ring of Kerry as well as Dingle and North Kerry." said Ms Buckley.
