The tourism potential of the south-west midlands will remain virtually untapped unless a coherent marketing approach is aimed at specific national and international markets, a pilot tourist project in the region has found. The conclusions of the final report on the En-Route Mid-Ireland project were discussed at a seminar in Tullamore this week by more than 100 tourism service providers, tour operators and local authority officials.
The report highlighted a number of serious obstacles to the development of tourism in Offaly and surrounding areas.
The En-Route project was designed to channel traffic away from the gridlocked national primary routes (N6 and N7) which skirt the northern and southern edges of Offaly and into less-visited attractions within the county.
In particular, it examined the viability of an alternative touring route along the N52 and N62 linking Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, Tullamore and Birr, Co Offaly, and Roscrea. The project is funded under the EU Operational Programme for Tourism with support from Offaly County Council and Shannon Development.
The final report concludes that intensive sign-posting, promotional activities and marketing had established an awareness of the pilot touring route within the tourist trade locally.
However, the report also states that the proposed route itself, with sight-seeing qualities which were described as "at best low key", could not realistically compete for visitors until the overall region is first established as a tourist attraction.
Mr Christian Ludwig, head of Germany's largest independent tour operator, said that in the absence of an overall national tourism strategy, the success of local initiatives such as the En-route project would be purely random.
He also claimed that the media focus on the Celtic Tiger combined with a new approach to promoting high-yield Irish holidays had been "a disaster" in the German markets.
Regular German visitors to Ireland who were attracted by its traditional romantic image were asking if they were still welcome in a country which now promoted its golf courses and spectacular restaurants.
The En-route project also unearthed a range of problems which beset the tourist trade in the midlands. According to the report, the tourist industry in the region is highly fragmented, lacks leadership and is over-focused on heritage attractions, to the detriment of the development of sports and leisure-related facilities.
Nonetheless, there is optimism that, with better research, greater co-operation and more professional branding, many of the 100,000 visitors who flock to Clonmacnoise annually can be enticed to explore the region fully.