News and Views Editorial July 2007

Athenry’s Tourism Potential

August provides many quality national and local events in and around Athenry for parishioners and tourists. The traditional and much-lived Lady Day on the 15th is the highlight. attracting people from East Galway,

Galway city and Connemara. The concelebrated mass at the Well at 3 p.m. continues to be of great spiritual importance in a growing materialistic society.

Athenry Arts and Heritage Centre host National Walled Town Day on Sunday, 26th August beginning at 1.30 p.m. There will be many attractive events for individuals and families. and it promises to be a most enjoyable time for all.

Tourism is underdeveloped in Athenry. The town benefits from a small spin-off from the tourism industry in Galway City and News and Views Editorial July 2007. Yes, the Castle and Heritage Centre attract tourists, but only in small numbers and during a very short tourist season. Yet, the town and parish are rich in tourism potential. Athenry boasts a rich store of medieval treasures, while the parish has modern sporting facilities, natural woods, fishing and an unspoiled countryside. Further, it has quality accommodation and excellent restaurants and pubs.

In the next few years Athenry will become a major transportation hub/junction. Rail communications are at hand with further improvements scheduled with the opening of a commuter service between Athenry and Galway and the line from Athenry to Ennis. The turnpike for the motorways linking Galway and Dublin and the Mayo to Limerick will be just four miles from the town.

At the present time, Galway County Council are developing a Conservation and Management Plan for the Town Walls, and also a Public Realm plan that will. hopefully, map out strategies for improving and developing facilities for tourists and locals alike. Its local area plan outlines many worthwhile projects, including a river walk in Caheroyan.

All of this makes the town and parish a potential tourism goldmine, a centre for family package holidays and a base for touring other areas in the West and developed to its full potential would be of great economic benefit to the community. However, to extract gold from this mine calls for planning, investment and lots of hard work over a considerable period of time, and the financial rewards are enormous.

To gain these rewards the business community must take on a leadership role, as its members will benefit most from it. They must organise themselves in a structured and legal manner in the form of a body such as the Athenry Tourism Ltd, provide it with regular funding from their own resources and most importantly, give it commitment and dedicated hard work. They can source grants from national tourism bodies to augment this, and liase with East Galway Tourism and other bodies for assistance and support. Above all, they must have a broad collective and supportive attitude to each other, and ignore negative thinking and especially those that are experts at throwing problems at solutions.

Like everything in life, there is a choice here for the business community. It can be cautious and wait for things to happen, or be pro-active and adventurous, taking control of their destiny and facing the future with ambition, confidence and hope.