How to make Limerick more attractive to Tourists

geotrig

i have only read the first post and am glad someone is taking an interest in this ,some of these may have been already been suggested so sorry

1.streets should really be cleaned/washed down every morning 6-7ish, most european countries do this and it make a great difference have cleaned paths etc instead of some horrible stains around paths that are there now .

2.The beggers/drunks/druggies and tappers should be moved on constantly as it's (a)intimdating (b) not very pleasent and and even puts me off going around the town

3.More guarda presence which would solve the above ! last weekend i saw 2 guards patrolling around the city and made their presence known and that was the first time in a while .

4, try to encourage more buskers street preformers ! may be trivial but may bring a bit more of a vibe to the streets

oh yeah and i secound the zombie fest!!!! it would be awesome

Kernunos

bigpink wrote: »

A student pub crawl wouldnt go down well

By the way who are you working with/for?

Only got back to checking this thread now, actually had a busy morning. I am working down in the Tourist Office for the summer. Have to admit that I did not really give that much thought to this stuff before I started working here but we are usaully asked for feedback at the end of the season so trying to get a few ideas together.

A lot of good suggestions here. This office is run by Shannon Development rather than the City Council so some of the bigger stuff would be out of our jurisdiction but it cant hurt to mention it. I sometimes think it would be a good idea for some of the planners to just walk around the city themselves and actually look at it as it would appear from a tourists eyes. I find that I rerely if ever look up past the ground floor of shops and take a lot of things for granted. Only yesterday did I notice the really impressive red-brick facades on buildings on the left side of William street. Of course they were side-by-side with some ugly windowless ones but still.

geotrig

Along the lines of getting alot more tourists into the city ,
An annual limerick thomond park, international, 7's tournament festival would be a great idea for the summer months you dont need good whether for it and it could grow over the years .
also the river and canals need to be utilised more in this country .most decent city's have something that is useful on them !

Kess73

Was in Galway and Salthill this morning and again around lunch time, and the streets are full of people.

It was like Limerick around Xmas it was that busy. Shop street had people buzzing from store to store, and even the out of town areas like those on the Headford road were busy looking.

The amount of obvious tourists was high, and there was no shortage of what looked like day trippers as well.


I could not help but notice how they have used graffiti artists up there though. Out in Salthill they have the dustbins all done by a graffiti artist(s) and it looks great. Also some of the unused units has boarding put up with tasteful art/graffitti on them.

Also the amount of events in the area that were well advertised was another eyeopener. It is this area that I think something could be done on the cheap in Limerick. Plenty of colourful posters etc for any events that are taking place. Both locals and visitors would then know of events taking place at a glance.

Another thing that was obvious was how bright and clean most of the streets looked, and I don't just mean in terms of litter. Buildings looked like they were maintained and their exteriors kept to a set standard.

I drove back to Limerick and came through the town centre at about 14:00 and the contrast between the two places was depressing. One was full of life and people, and the other was a trickle in comparison.

Mc Love

Kess73 wrote: »

I drove back to Limerick and came through the town centre at about 14:00 and the contrast between the two places was depressing. One was full of life and people, and the other was a trickle in comparison.

Exactly what I was saying on here the other day

Kernunos

I wonder sometimes does Limericks grid-formation work against it. There does not seem to be a central 'hub' where people would meet or hang-out. They made a bit of an effort with the Thomas st/O'Connell st/Bedford Row junction but it is not the same.

With regards a few of the suggestions that places like King John's Castle be made free. While its a good idea on paper it would not really work. Attracting all the tourists with free attractions would be great for local businesses and the city in general but Shannon Development would go out of business pretty quickly, which would mean the upkeep would fall to the city council, and we have seen what a great job they have done of it.

kilburn

Kernunos wrote: »

I wonder sometimes does Limericks grid-formation work against it. There does not seem to be a central 'hub' where people would meet or hang-out. They made a bit of an effort with the Thomas st/O'Connell st/Bedford Row junction but it is not the same.

With regards a few of the suggestions that places like King John's Castle be made free. While its a good idea on paper it would not really work. Attracting all the tourists with free attractions would be great for local businesses and the city in general but Shannon Development would go out of business pretty quickly, which would mean the upkeep would fall to the city council, and we have seen what a great job they have done of it.

Arent Shannon Development state funded and use the rents they recieve to fund themselves. If anything Shannon Development should drop the price into the castle at least if they wont make it free. A 2euro entry would boost visitor numbers drastically, dress the staff up and a decent coffee shop, would pay for itself in a matter of weeks.

Boat trips would be great but you are limited with the tides and having to wait for waterways to dredge the abbey.

Some very good ideas from McLove, Dave and Kess. Great to see that people are interested in pushing and helping the city rather than whinge.

cfarrell1980

Here's a story from some chap in Dublin who spent two days in Limerick for a training course. He photo blogged his experience - makes for interesting reading:
http://kevindowling.ie/index.php/dublin-to-limerick/

One thing I think should be done (if it hasn't been done already) is to create a kind of a Google Maps layer for Limerick - a user generated maps containing all the points of interest (with commentary from tourists and locals if possible). I'd expect to see things like the Georgian House in Pery Square, the Hunt Museum, Barringtons Hospital, Ranks Flour Mills, the Docks, Newtown Pery, Irishtown, Baals Bridge, St. John's Cathedral, the Walls of Limerick, whatever that Big Ben-like clock is called, all the parks in Limerick, the canal, the river, Plassey, UL, Golf Courses, restaurants, pubs, parking places etc.

The best thing about a Google Maps layer is that Wikipedia information is automatically linked in to - it makes a walk around town much more interesting as a tourist if you can find out about what you're looking at. It's also available on mobile phones.

Or maybe something like this exists already?

Amazotheamazing

cfarrell1980 wrote: »

Here's a story from some chap in Dublin who spent two days in Limerick for a training course. He photo blogged his experience - makes for interesting reading:
http://kevindowling.ie/index.php/dublin-to-limerick/

Do you think? The guy is an awful writer imo, sentences too long, takes too long to get to the point etc.

kilburn

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Do you think? The guy is an awful writer imo, sentences too long, takes too long to get to the point etc.

after reading it i could think of a few other things to say about him and his journey

grenache

cfarrell1980 wrote: »

Here's a story from some chap in Dublin who spent two days in Limerick for a training course. He photo blogged his experience - makes for interesting reading:
http://kevindowling.ie/index.php/dublin-to-limerick/

He did get one thing wrong - he said more people live in Galway (or hinted it) but of course that's not true as Limerick has the bigger population and is still the countries third city, regardless of how horrid it can be at times.

cfarrell1980

The point I wanted to make is that these were the impressions of a person who had not previously been to Limerick (at least not recently). Whether or not you agree with him is one thing, but feedback (biased or not) from a neutral visitor is useful. There were a couple of inflammatory remarks in that article, but I thought that the observations on the main city locations were interesting. Here's the main part that he wrote about Limerick:

Limerick was as expected – a giant Tallaght (a notoriously bad area in Dublin). I’m sure it has lovely parts as well as horrific parts, just like Dublin – but if their main street is anything to go by, things are as I suspected in Limerick; barren.

Even the store manager commented that the city has been hit hard by the recession. It’s a city I wouldn’t live in.

It’s also a city with nothing to visit either. No real drive to push tourism, or business it seems.

It’s a perfect poster-boy for decentralisation (where the government departments move to locations other then Dublin to help drive the local economy). It’s no wonder most people live in Dublin, and if they don’t, they live in Cork or Galway instead.

It doesn’t help that everyone wears tracksuits, and people the same age of me have a scowling face whenever they came in contact with “proper” people. You know, heathens with nice clothes. Having said that, the majority of customers were lovely and local.

houseinthesun

Quite simple really....
Bring them to Cork, Galway, Kilkenny or Killarney and tell them they are actually in Limerick!
They will enjoy their experience so much more, they will leave with a great opinion of Limerick, tell their friends, and a lot more will come!

GENIUS!!!!!!! :D:D:D

Kernunos

cfarrell1980 wrote: »

One thing I think should be done (if it hasn't been done already) is to create a kind of a Google Maps layer for Limerick - a user generated maps containing all the points of interest (with commentary from tourists and locals if possible). I'd expect to see things like the Georgian House in Pery Square, the Hunt Museum, Barringtons Hospital, Ranks Flour Mills, the Docks, Newtown Pery, Irishtown, Baals Bridge, St. John's Cathedral, the Walls of Limerick, whatever that Big Ben-like clock is called, all the parks in Limerick, the canal, the river, Plassey, UL, Golf Courses, restaurants, pubs, parking places etc.

The best thing about a Google Maps layer is that Wikipedia information is automatically linked in to - it makes a walk around town much more interesting as a tourist if you can find out about what you're looking at. It's also available on mobile phones.

Or maybe something like this exists already?

This seems like a good idea. Not sure how its done but I might check it out later, sure there are tutorials or something.

kilburn wrote: »

Arent Shannon Development state funded and use the rents they recieve to fund themselves. If anything Shannon Development should drop the price into the castle at least if they wont make it free. A 2euro entry would boost visitor numbers drastically, dress the staff up and a decent coffee shop, would pay for itself in a matter of weeks.

I think you might be right about the whole rent thing. But I might forward this thread onto my supervisor in a wee bit so its probably best I dont talk about the companies inner workings online

cfarrell1980

Kernunos wrote: »

This seems like a good idea. Not sure how its done but I might check it out later, sure there are tutorials or something

Here's a quick example: http://is.gd/eT9JJ - I didn't have to do anything here at all except zoom in on Limerick and add things like WIkipedia, Videos, Photos. If you look at the area around Baals Bridge, there is a video from Riverfest 2008 - IMHO anyone looking at that video would get a good impression. Also, there are plenty of photos synced in to the map from e.g. Flickr - lots of beautiful spots in Limerick. If you live in the city you'll probably overlook them after a while. Another idea might be to put up some videos of buskers on the streets, of the milk market on a Saturday morning, maybe music in Dolan's pub, clips of a rugby/GAA match, St. Patrick's day etc - anything that shows the city in a good light.

What would be nice is if you could add upcoming events to the map. Also put in walking routes - e.g. by the river, down Plassey.

Of course, the most important thing would be to put the map bang slap on the front page (not hidden away in a tab) of something like limerick.com - someplace where a tourist would expect to find it.

The best thing about it is, it wouldn't cost a penny...

Raiser

Honestly I think you need to assess all of the negatives in detail and work backwards - Its a sad fact that if any sentient, right thinking Person had their bags packed, money in their pocket, a desire to relax and enjoy themselves in relative safety - Why then would they, could they or should they ever end up in Limerick?

- For me I think it is unforgivable that our Streets and Suburbs have almost 0% policing.

There's not even a pretence of it usually, so there's a good start.....

An Garda Siochana is the Fianna Fail of Police Forces :mad:

Kernunos

I was down by the coast this weekend so used the new road into Limerick for the first time. Its a bit worrying how it is laid out. The main road just drives straight to the tunnel and the road into the city is a small one-lane slip road. Its a bit blink-and-you'll-miss-it to be honest. This will not bode well for the getting tourists to visit the city me thinks. The vast majority of toutists we get in are stopping here while driving from Galway to Cork/Killarney and now thy will just bypass us completely without realising it. I know thats the whole purpose of a 'bypass' but they could have signalled the city a bit clearer

kenoconnell

Kernunos wrote: »

So I am involved in the tourism sector here in Limerick and since yesterday the amount of tourists around has just dried up, like a tap that has just been turned off. There were so few tourists this year that the Tourist Office actually did not open on a Sunday for the entire summer, just was noone around. We got talking about what we could do to make the city more desirable, both during the summer and the off-season.

We have already gotten onto the City Council and they are going to remove the last section of the wall and fence outside the Tourist Office as well as trim the trees. It was a bit of a joke having drug-dealers and alcoholics hanging around the main hub for tourists, not the best impression. The new flowers around the place are nice, as is the new Thomas St/Bedfore Row area.

Other than that we are at a bit of a loss. Can anyone think of any low-budget alternatives that might work. There are a lot of eyesores around the city that we could do with completely removing but I dont see that happening until more money starts flowing into the city.

Hey,

Glad to see somebody is trying to make an effort and do something.

Not trying to be smart but the outside, ie the glass roof of the tourist office is absolutely manky dirty and makes the palce look so dark and unkept.

I know the impression this has left on me not to mind tourists.

A couple of hundred euro's would get this cleaned and sorted out.

Best of luck.

Rgds - Ken

jacksyhoulahan

I just think a Sunday in Limerick is so quiet. What city in Ireland does not have the majority of shops and cafes open on a Sunday. To try and get something to eat is an ordeal. Sunday in this day and age should be treated the same as a saturday like it is in the crescent. A combined message from shops and cafes would need to go out that they are open for business. What have they to lose if they tried it for a month

RonMexico

There was a guide to Limerick in one of the papers at the weekend. The first thing I noticed is that the majority of things to do were located outside the city.

Says it all really. If I had someone visiting from abroad and they wanted to know what to do in Limerick I'd struggle to come up with things.

All the city really has to offer is King Johns Castle and The Hunt Museum. Unfortunately if they want the castle experience I bring them to Bunratty, because it is more entertaining. The Hunt Museum offers what - 2 hours of something to do. Limerick is boring and has lost its soul.

The fact that the streets are crawling with undesirables means that I would never take any visitors in there for a stroll around.