Fine Gael TD Ciaran Cannon TD has welcomed an announcementby Failte Ireland that the Burren Discovery Loop will go live in January.
The loop is the result of an investment of €340,000 and will be the the third such loop to attract tourists inland from the Wild Atlantic Way, with loops already in place in Donegal and Limerick.
The Burren Discovery Trail will incorporate a signposted route visiting 12 specific tourist experiences; seven in the Burren Highlands in Co. Clare and five in the Burren Lowlands to include Kilmacduagh, Gort, Coole Park, Ardrahan, Kinvara, and Thoor Ballylee.
The trail sets out to better distribute tourism activity throughout the Burren by treating it as a single visitor experience, and encouraging visitors to depart the busy Wild Atlantic Way and head inland.
The initiative also encourages visitors to stay longer in each location and to engage more with the people and places of the Burren. Each of the 12 Burren Discovery Trail sites will feature a special corten steel doorway and a storyboard highlighting the heritage and places of interest in each locality.
These sites will be similar in design to the now iconic interest points along the Wild Atlantic Way,’ he said.
“This is a really positive development for tourism in the Burren, and in particular for the Burren Lowlands in South Galway. It’s time for additional communities to benefit from the incredible success of the Wild Atlantic Way, and this initiative is a major step forward in making that happen.
“All of us in South Galway have been aware of the potential of places like Thoor Ballylee and Kilmacduagh to really capture the imagination of tourists from across the world, and these sites will now see far more visitors in the future. It’s an opportunity for tourists to see all of what the Burren Lowlands have to offer and to spend a few days visiting the region”, said Deputy Cannon. Failte Ireland has engaged extensively with stakeholders from each community served by the trail to decide on the location of each door and storyboard, and to determine the content of storyboards.
Local businesses have also been asked what they can offer to visitors, and each business will be encouraged to play an active part in marketing the Burren Discovery Trail.”This is an opportunity for all local businesses to impress upon people not alone how beautiful and unique the Burren is, but also the fact that it’s a lived in community with its own culture and traditions. This initiative is more about the future of our local communities than their past”, concluded Deputy Cannon.
