The winners of the 2015 Irish Responsible Tourism Awards were announced last week at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Dublin. Mulranny received a silver award in the ‘Best Destination for Responsible Tourism” category.
The judging panel consisted of a team of highly respected responsible tourism industry experts who in their judging report stated “Mulranny is a honeypot tourist centre with abundant natural and built heritage. The Mulranny community and Mayo County Council began the process of preparing a village design statement for Mulranny in order to guide the future development of the village. On the Greenway and the Wild Atlantic Way, with the 6km Fáilte Ireland loop walk through three nature sites, with a €1.7m project to construct the Mulranny promenade and with the establishment of the National Herd of Old Irish Goats in 2014, Mulranny has benefited from significant investment in its tourism infrastructure. Mulranny Community Futures Group has 24 members and works with a host of organisations in the village, and their partners include the Heritage Council, Mayo County Council, South West Mayo Development Company, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, The Smurfit Genetic Institute, UCD and the American Ireland Fund.”
Fáilte Ireland’s Paddy Matthews said: “Mulranny and the destinations in this category are trailblazers in Responsible Tourism. A more environmentally conscious and community-centred approach to developing tourism in Ireland is becoming more and more mainstream... and so it should. It results in more genuine and authentic experiences for all our visitors.”
