Can this initiative help bring tourists to this region
Fáilte Ireland is planning a new tourism initiative for the east and south of the country which will be this region’s equivalent to the 'Wild Atlantic Way’ in the west.
Clonmacnois is one of the sites which will be featured in the 'Ireland’s Ancient East’ initiative, which is designed to “turn a transit zone into a touring region” by building on “the wealth of historical and cultural assets in the east and south of Ireland.”
The initiative was launched on Tuesday by Minister for Tourism, Transport and Sport, Paschal Donohoe, and Minister of State, Michael Ring.
Fáilte Ireland said the initiative would “offer visitors a personal experience of 5000 years of history through a relaxing journey of discovery in the beautiful landscape that attracted warring settlers for millennia and illuminated by stories from the best storytellers in the world – the local people.”
It would stretch from Newgrange and the Boyne Valley in the north east, through the Midlands, and then south via Kilkenny’s Medieval mile to Waterford’s Viking Quarter and Cork’s many cultural attractions.
The Ireland’s Ancient East brand “is intended to match and complement the Wild Atlantic Way in terms of scale and ambition,” Fáilte Ireland stated.
Its research suggests that an initiative themed along these lines has the potential to deliver an extra 600,000 overseas visitors (growth of more than 20%) to the region and increase visitor revenue by almost 25% to €950m in total by 2020.
Officially launching Ireland’s Ancient East, Minister Donohoe said: “With the great amount of history and heritage in such a relatively compact area, 'Ireland’s Ancient East’ will allow us to seriously build on the assets we have in the east and south – and the significant investment which has been made in tourism attractions in the region over the last few years.
“While appealing to a different type of a visitor, I am confident that Ireland’s Ancient East will prove as effective and popular as the Wild Atlantic Way and will deliver significant additional numbers of visitors, revenue and jobs to the region”.
'Ireland’s Ancient East’ is to have four themes: Ancient Ireland - The Dawn of Civilisation (including the prehistoric attractions of the Boyne Valley in Newgrange and sites such as the Brownshill Dolmen in Carlow); Early Christian Ireland (including sites such as Clonmacnoise, Glendalough, Mellifont abbey, Jerpoint Abbey, St.Canice’s Cathedral and Holycross Abbey); Medieval Ireland (including Kilkenny’s Medieval Mile, the Viking Quarter in Waterford, Hook Head Lighthouse, Trim Castle and the Rock of Cashel); and Anglo Ireland (including Ireland’s Great Houses and Gardens as well as sites such as the Dunbrody Famine Ship and Wicklow Gaol).