The very first St Brigid's Day Bank Holiday on Monday last kick-started the 2023 tourist season at least a month earlier than usual in Westport - with visitors arriving at the end of January to check out all that is on offer in the popular hotspot.
"It was a good weekend with plenty of people about and a buzz around Westport. From our point of view in the Clew Bay Hotel, we just opened on Friday so it was a nice start to the season," said Darren Madden, Chairman of the Mayo branch of the Irish Hotels Federation.
He added: "This year is an interesting one anyway because some properties would be closed to tourism but housing Ukrainians. Probably the feeling then is that there is more demand for other businesses to do quite well. I don't even think January was the usual slumbersome month. St Patrick's day was always the original start of the tourism season but this has now been leapfrogged with the new February Bank Holiday weekend."
Michael O'Donnell, a committee member of Westport Tourism Organisation (WTO ) and proprietor of O'Donnell Shoes on The Mall, said the new bank holiday was a novelty and would remain so until people adjusted to it. "It's like the October Bank Holiday. When it was first introduced, people didn't know what to do, but now it's associated with marathons. After a year or two, they will be fixing up events and activities to go with this one also."
Either way, he welcomes the addition to the holiday calendar, saying: "It's good for any place because people make a weekend of it and this one will also possibly lead in to the midterm break. In fact it's nearly a Bank Holiday every month now - and then they are also seriously talking about throwing a four day working week into the mix!"
Chairperson of WTO, Donal O'Shea said it had 'definitely picked up earlier in the year', adding: "It has been good and we would expect a boom year for 2023 now. Every bank holiday helps. We are thanking St Brigid!"
