*The Rowan Tree Hostel has reopened as a centre to house displaced Ukrainians.
A SHORTAGE OF ACCOMMODATION is hindering Clare’s ability to fully maximise its location as a haven for tourism.
Objective 18(A) of the Clare Tourism Strategy 2030 plans to do an accommodation audit within the county which also includes campervan facilities.
This was referenced by Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) who affirmed that there is “a serious defect in tourist accommodation beds both in Ennis and Clare” plus “poor transport links within the county to countywide tourism attractions in West, North and East Clare”.
In a proposal before the Ennis Municipal District, he asked for discussions to commence between the local authority’s tourism department, Irish Rail, Fáilte Ireland and third level institutes in the Mid-West to consider developing tourism or student accommodation at the Freight Yard at Ennis Bus and Train Station which he labelled “a significant transport hub with national rail and bus network”. Flynn suggested visitor accommodation be built to use off season for third level students availing of transport link offerings from Ennis “such as the €20 weekly Green Bus ticket” to UL, MIC and TUS.
Clare County Council is working with Fáilte Ireland on an accommodation audit report “which will focus on approved” stock, Acting Head of Tourism with Clare County Council, Deirdre O’Shea outlined. She said, “The main focus of the report will be to establish the demand drivers and opportunities for provision / increase of overnight accommodation. The suggestion to increase the capacity of student accommodation is welcome and will be included in this audit as the process is currently in research stage”.
Transport management to support the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience Development Plan forms Objective 8a of the Tourism Strategy. The potential of ‘park and ride’ services is a consideration being examined under this.
In line with this, a public information meeting was held on March 1st of this year with key local stakeholders in North Clare. “All feedback has been received and key themes of the challenges are emerging. The process or next steps is to identify what actions (a) are in progress (b) can be fed into a pipeline of projects going forward and (c) identify and address challenges and resolutions,” O’Shea added.
Speaking at the July meeting of the Ennis MD, Cllr Flynn remarked, “Clare doesn’t get its fair share of overseas tourism”. He maintained the county was not securing sufficient overseas tourism revenue, “Tourism is either working for Clare or Co Clare is working for tourism and it looks like Clare is working for tourism, we are providing a lot of attractions and we have done lot of strategies”.
One such document, the tourism strategy highlighted “a serious lack of public transport and lack of accommodation,” the Ennis native stated. The county town is pinpointed as a core hub and access point in this strategy, he noted.
There is “a damaging impact” to the tourism industry in Ireland due to the “crisis with car rental,” Cllr Flynn maintained as visitors are having to pay thousands of euros to rent a car while on holiday. Transport is key to the success of the Cliffs of Moher Strategy which he calculated would have an €80m spend in the next decade. “Licensing policies should incentives coach travel from Ennis to the Cliffs and not from Kerry,” he said.
NUIG have in recent weeks sought offers of accommodation from households outside of Galway for incoming and existing students. This was highlighted by Cllr Flynn who felt that if a tax incentive scheme was in place then the consideration of a transport hub in Ennis would carry more weight.
While seconding the proposal, Cllr Paul Murphy (FG) commented, “a fair and balanced tourism strategy is key to the county”.
Students may not be enarmored with the idea of commuting to Galway or Limerick from Ennis, Cllr Mary Howard (FG) said while backing the “genesis” of the motion. “The only thing I would throw caution to is getting students coming to live in Ennis who are attending elsewhere. I spent number of years on the GMIT Governing Body, Galway has always suffered with massive problems for student accommodation, we tried to arrange offers for Oranmore three miles away but it wasn’t taken up by students, they want to be in Galway or Limerick where the action is, they want to be where the action is, they don’t want to be commuting”.
A transport hub is “a good potential future use” of the Freight Yard, Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) observed. She believed it fitted with the move towards a greener environment and increased use of public transport.
Senior executive officer in the Ennis MD, Leonore O’Neill told the meeting that tourism department has put a strong emphasis on accommodation in its recent reviews.
“Accommodation is where we’re lacking, the most important infrastructure for Ennis to behave as a hub is accommodation. We are a hub of regional and national importance, we can easily connect to Shannon Airport, the strategy also looks at the Cliffs of Moher and linking to Ennis,” Cllr Flynn responded.
He concluded, “It takes years to get to the stage of implementing strategies. This is a solution to the transport and accommodation issues. The shortage in the county is critical, we need to get low to medium cost accommodation, it is unfortunate that the hostel isn’t available for use this year for international tourists, it is used by displaced Ukrainians which is great”.
