What would you do to improve Sligo's tourism?*

Gillie

I'd agree with sorting out proper pedestrianised areas!

brianthebard

starbelgrade wrote: »

Advertising is the key, then good pricing. Sligo Tourist Board, if they put their mind to it, could quite easily offer package deals eg., team up Aer Arrann with some of the hotels & offer discounts on flights & accomodation.

There's a hotelier outside Galway offering cheap mid-week breaks plus a tank of petrol (well, €50 worth) when you leave. All that's needed is a bit of innovation.

Yeah he got on the last word with that one (and probably plenty of other radio stations). He's making a loss from that deal afaik, but I'd say it balances out from the free advertising he got.

Gillie

Worth a read:

http://wikitravel.org/en/Sligo

takola

DenMan wrote: »

Cobbled streets people, that whats needed. If it works for Kilkenny it will work here too!! Makes the place beautiful and ads a touch of distinction to a street.

I'd love to see O'Connell Street cobbled. Would make it look lovely and would get rid of the stupid road I always forget I'm allowed to walk on! :rolleyes:

DenMan

takola wrote: »

I'd love to see O'Connell Street cobbled. Would make it look lovely and would get rid of the stupid road I always forget I'm allowed to walk on! :rolleyes:

Yes it would be a terrific idea wouldn't it? Certainly would make it more pleasing on the eye.

TequilaMockingBird

Gillie wrote: »

Worth a read:

http://wikitravel.org/en/Sligo

The Sligo Post gets a bit of a hammering!

Its not a bad listing though.

GG66

The eastern bypass should be built and then promote Sligo as a pedestrian friendly shopping town with nice cafés and bars and ample parking. Not some filthy, traffic choked market town, masquerading as a city.

Let's face it if a tourist is coming from overseas for 1-2 weeks they are most likely to go to Dublin, Kerry, Connemara or Donegal for the variety of landscape and facilities that have been built up over years. These counties have it sewn up when it comes to promoting Ireland overseas and it would be very difficult to get to their level.

Sligo needs to establish a niche for itself (take surfing as an example). Ironically the best thing I see Sligo County offering is the lack of large number of tourists, no queues, no paying someone to look at a waterfall (powerscourt vs Glencar "leitrim I know"), no paying some farmer to look at a pile of stones in his field (carrowkeel, Knocknarae versus anything in Kerry).

I'm quite happy enjoying Sligo without tourists, more room for the rest of us to enjoy it...

As for Sligo town, on the surface it's simply not an attractive town and years of bad planning and development haven't helped it to improve. I live 15 miles away but would prefer to go to Carrick because of congestion and parking problems in Sligo.

O Connell street needs to be sorted out and that whole area would benefit from more restaurants, pubs with outdoor areas during the summer..

donegalman1

Donegal had a very pro-active tourism industry for a few years. Its still way behind Kerry etc and mostly gets its business from Northern Ireland or Scotland for cultural reasons.

it like Sligo does not get many foreigners because Dublin and Shannon Airports through Air Lingus kept all the focus on the South West and Dublin regions. I was delighted to see Air Lingus pull out of Shannon, the stop overs gave that region a huge advantage they never shared with anyone and infact sometimes protrayed Donegal etc as in Northern Ireland.

Sligo and Donegal should join forces with Northern Ireland, there will be a continuing tourism boom there and they are far more likely to share than the cronies of Kerry or Galway.

Also activity breaks are the way forward and weather doesn't matter to most of these continentals, but remember Sligo farmers are leading the way in stopping hill walking. I imagine most of these are getting great subsidies and are waiting for another for allowing hill walking. If the insurance thing ever gets sorted, no one should refuse hill walkers.

Gillie

donegalman1 wrote: »

Sligo and Donegal should join forces with Northern Ireland, there will be a continuing tourism boom there and they are far more likely to share than the cronies of Kerry or Galway.

Also activity breaks are the way forward and weather doesn't matter to most of these continentals, but remember Sligo farmers are leading the way in stopping hill walking. I imagine most of these are getting great subsidies and are waiting for another for allowing hill walking. If the insurance thing ever gets sorted, no one should refuse hill walkers.

Agree with this.

In fact Mayo , Rossie, and Galway are lumped together when they are advertising "the whest" but where are the ads for Sligo, Donegal & Leitrim?

Mrs.T

We still have our tv card from Scotland. They have adverts now about visiting Sligo and North West, looks quite appealing.

The last time we went to Lissadell beach we saw this.... (please see attachment. If somebody has a spare moment can you please tell me how to get a photo on the message). Probably not too good for the tourism?

TequilaMockingBird

Mrs.T wrote: »

We still have our tv card from Scotland. They have adverts now about visiting Sligo and North West, looks quite appealing.

The last time we went to Lissadell beach we saw this.... (please see attachment. If somebody has a spare moment can you please tell me how to get a photo on the message). Probably not too good for the tourism?

Hi Mrs T, thanks for the horrid pic!

Put your picture link between these tags: [img][/img]

Hail 2 Da Chimp

^ Yarr the picture needs to be hosted on a website like Photobucket though...

starbelgrade

Mrs.T wrote: »

We still have our tv card from Scotland. They have adverts now about visiting Sligo and North West, looks quite appealing.

The last time we went to Lissadell beach we saw this.... (please see attachment. If somebody has a spare moment can you please tell me how to get a photo on the message). Probably not too good for the tourism?

THANKS - I NEARLY GAGGED!

DenMan

Have the North West Tourism Board invite a production crew from Home and Away over and spend a couple of months in Strandhill filming scenes. Be great for the area and will encourage an interest in the overall county. Think of the benefits. I would say a lot of the cast on Home and Away would have Irish connections and would love to film over here. Great for generating interest I would say. What about the surfing scene here? Everybody raves about Bundoran and Donegal in general for surfing. People come from all over the world come over to take part, surely Strandhill has the same sort of exposure...or does it?

starbelgrade

DenMan wrote: »

Have the North West Tourism Board invite a production crew from Home and Away over and spend a couple of months in Strandhill filming scenes. Be great for the area and will encourage an interest in the overall county. Think of the benefits. I would say a lot of the cast on Home and Away would have Irish connections and would love to film over here. Great for generating interest I would say. What about the surfing scene here? Everybody raves about Bundoran and Donegal in general for surfing. People come from all over the world come over to take part, surely Strandhill has the same sort of exposure...or does it?

Strandhill doesn't get the waves you get in Bundoran - it's more of a spot for kids & learners to start out.

il gatto

Bundoran has the McEniff family. 'Nuff said. Easkey is regarded as the very best in waves, but has sod all else.
As regards the farmers and hill-walkers. That's mainly McSharry and he doesn't speak for the majority of farmers.

donegalman1

il gatto wrote: »

Bundoran has the McEniff family. 'Nuff said. Easkey is regarded as the very best in waves, but has sod all else.
As regards the farmers and hill-walkers. That's mainly McSharry and he doesn't speak for the majority of farmers.

2 points, the McEniffs wher in fairness have employed alot in Bundoran but do seem to control the town and the tourism in the region, the region also covers Sligo and suffers compared to North Donegal for same rasons.

Also McSharry seems to get great coverage and support from many famers who feel the same. Problem is, insurance does worry ALL Farmers and thats acceptable and should be addressed but there are a large majority who see pound signs everytime there is something like this or the need for a new road, probably because they have been spoon fed for years.

Other europens resent us because of subsidies following Lisbon when most of the population never saw them and now many Farmers see nothing else.

Subsidies and payments are a business for many in Ireland - don't lets kid ourselves. We have tribunrals to prove it from lawyers to politicians.

donegalman1

donegalman1 wrote: »

2 points, the McEniffs in fairness have employed alot in Bundoran but do seem to control the town and the tourism in the region, the region also covers Sligo and suffers and just as North Donegal for same reasons.

Also McSharry seems to get great coverage and support from many famers who feel the same. Problem is, insurance does worry ALL Farmers and thats acceptable and should be addressed but there are a large majority who see pound signs everytime there is something like this or the need for a new road, probably because they have been spoon fed for years.

Other europens resent us because of subsidies following Lisbon when most of the population never saw them and now many Farmers see nothing else.

Subsidies and payments are a business for many in Ireland - don't lets kid ourselves. We have tribunrals to prove it from lawyers to politicians

Gillie

il gatto wrote: »

Bundoran has the McEniff family. 'Nuff said. Easkey is regarded as the very best in waves, but has sod all else.
As regards the farmers and hill-walkers. That's mainly McSharry and he doesn't speak for the majority of farmers.

The McEniff's have a sh*t load of stuff in Sligo too.
You not to fond of them?

Jabby

The Southern Hotel and....? I know there's more but where?

Gillie

I think they own a pub or two and definately some property.

Sulukie

Gillie wrote: »

I think they own a pub or two and definately some property.

The Leitrim Bar - I think

gustavo

And O'Neills on the Mall

Jabby

That's it.. You're right,. I heard one of them bought The Leitrim Bar a few years ago. Like them or not, they do know their stuff when it comes to tourism. Might be a good thing for Sligo to have them around.

brianthebard

starbelgrade wrote: »

Strandhill doesn't get the waves you get in Bundoran - it's more of a spot for kids & learners to start out.

thats bull imo there was a european championship held there a few years ago.

Gillie

And Kian Egan surfs there so it must be good!:D

Oh Sh*t! I'm gonna get banned by Tak for mentioning a member of Whestlife! Oh well might as well go down in a blaze of glory!

Gillie

Actuallty to be fair go old Aine has probably done a lot for tourism in Sligo!

I'm sure Podge and Rodge would love to take a trip up here!

DenMan

That would be a great idea. Any old Manors they could use to film it in. Even an old castle, Markree Castle would be a great setting.

Jabby

You're right Gillie.

We need a few more Aines around the place...She is a dote.
She has done wonders for the local tourist industry in these parts. I think some of the tourists that Aine has attracted to Sligo in the past though have left a little deflated as they expected to see lots of other Aines here...... and didn't.

Gillie

Jabby wrote: »

You're right Gillie.

We need a few more Aines around the place...She is a dote.
She has done wonders for the local tourist industry in these parts. I think some of the tourists that Aine has attracted to Sligo in the past though have left a little deflated as they expected to see lots of other Aines here...... and didn't.

Whoa whoa! I was kidding!