Tourism pioneer richie ohara

Having opened Ireland’s largest inflatable water park last year, the man behind Baysports in Hodson Bay is planning to expand the attraction to the continued benefit of Athlone and the Lakelands region.

Mayo’s loss was Athlone’s gain when Richie O’Hara took up a job Athlone Institute of Technology, which was then called Athlone Regional Technical College back in 1981. “I’m from Charlestown in Co Mayo, that’s where I was born and reared,” he explained.

Richie studied physical education at Strawberry Hill in London before returning to his native Mayo in 1978.

“I came home started working in Mayo Vocational Education Committee (VEC),” he recalled. Mayo VEC had an outdoor centre and in 1978 he was put in charge. The experience started Richie’s lifelong career in outdoor adventure activities and tourism. While working for Mayo VEC’s outdoor centre he was involved in bringing in groups from all over the country. 

He started with Athlone Regional Technical College on March 9, 1981 and retired 34 years later on March 9 this year.

All the while, he has had a dual career, he said. The summer holidays allowed him to continue with the outdoor activities and in the same year he joined AIT he said: “I set up my own business in adventure tourism in Achill.”

Unlike many Irish people, Richie explained that he has “traditionally, over the years, taken my holidays at Christmas.”

“From 1981 to 1991 I was using three or four hotels down there [Mayo] and I was essentially filling these hotels... then I bought McDowell’s in Dugort in Achill,” he recalled.

Richie and his wife ran the hotel in Achill from the early 1990s until 2007 while keeping his adventure tourism business up and running in Achill.

“While I was involved in running the business from Achill, I set up a different component,” Richie explained. “In 1989 I set up a school tour business as another component of what we did,” he remarked. The business involved taking school tours to Fermanagh, Westport, Achill and also back to Richie’s adopted home in Athlone.

 “I started bringing schools to Athlone because I was based in Athlone,” Richie recalled. Accommodation at the time was provided by tents, he said.

The school tour market is very short in that it only has a window of about five weeks, he added.

Through his work, Richie got involved with a number of tourism agencies. He chaired Achill Tourism, Mayo County Tourism and was also a member of the board of Ireland West Tourism before becoming chairman of the body.

“Because of the seasonal nature of it and because of the weather we’ve got, it was always a challenge,” Richie explained.

However, before improvements in transport infrastructure, “the big challenge was trying to get the distribution of tourists from the access points,” he said.
“In 2007 I was approached by Roscommon County Council. They had built this building [Baysport’s base] here under the national tourism plan,” he said.

“So I set up a new company called Baysports replicating much of what I did in Achill,” he remarked. The business started out with summer camps before evolving into what is now Ireland’s largest inflatable water Park.

“We were innovating constantly,” Richie remarked. Baysports introduced water trampolines and Chinese dragon boats as exhaustive research took them across America, Europe and China. “We went through a fairly complex planning process,” he revealed. “We finally dragged it across the line in July last year,” he added.

There are plans to increase the facilities in the coming months. “It is the biggest in Ireland and we are adding to it this year,” Richie said.

“The plan is that we want to maintain the status as the largest inflatable water park in Ireland,” he added. Richie explained that “this is a feature of what we do here at Baysports, we are constantly evolving.”

“We came up with the idea that we should link the water park to local points of interest and history,” he said. In order to reflect the history of  Athlone and the surrounding area, Baysports has designed and ordered a new Viking slide and  - and a Viking Rocker (like a big rocking horse on water) and a castle.

In the beginning Baysports had been ordering from one company in China but they are now dealing with five separate Chinese firms.

“What we are doing is trying to attract people here,” he said. “Our competition is the world stage, we are competing with London, Paris, Gran Canaria,” Richie added. He is delighted that Baysports has attracted people from across Ireland and said it is also bringing foreign tourists. “We had a lot of overseas tourists last year, Belgians, Germans, Chinese,” he revealed.

Richie views Athlone and the surrounding area as one of the most promising tourist locations in the country. “Sometimes we get overlooked by the more established brands like Connemara and Killarney.”

However, he said, “I am fully convinced that we have one of the finest towns in Ireland.”

He cited the River Shannon running through Athlone and Lough Ree just outside town. Athlone, he noted, has terrific sporting facilities with AIT and Buccaneers.

He said the local hotels and restaurants are among the finest in Ireland and then there is the history and heritage with Athlone Castle and the town’s Viking past. “I am convinced that there is huge potential to capitalise on,” he remarked.

Richie said Baysports was already providing employment locally. Although some are on work experience, he said on the morning of the interview, there were 16 to 18 people working there.

“The Hodson Bay Hotel is a fine hotel and it is terrific to have such a fine hotel beside us. The feedback about the hotel is always highly positive.” Between the hotel, the golf course, the harbour and Baysports, Hodson Bay has become a destination in its own right, Richie said.

“Through Baysports we can showcase the Lakelands... we are delighted to be playing our part in that,” Richie remarked.

He is excited about the future for the entire Lakelands region with the planned arrival of UK tourist operator Centre Parcs to Ballymahon. The operators plan to build a €200 million resort in Longford. “It is a great concept to have Centre Parcs coming here,” he said. He believes “it will add a new dimension to the Lakelands region.”  

Richie was extremely grateful to the agencies who have supported Baysports. He cited Roscommon County Council, Roscommon Leader, the Western Development Commission, Failte Ireland and Waterways Ireland as bodies who had worked towards supporting tourism in the region.

He is pleased at how these organisations are not only supporting tourism but also working together. “I can see that these partnerships are strengthening and there is greater co-operation,” he explained.

“We still need that support and without that support we wouldn’t be able to progress,” he added.