by Bernie English
SOUTH East Limerick was put to the fore of the regional tourism map this week when Ballyhoura Failte launched its tourism strategy for the Ballyhoura Country region and its new Heritage Hub for South East Limerick in Bruff.
The Heritage Hub is the coming together of four local communities spanning more than over 5,000 years of history from Neolithic Lough Gur to Medieval Kilmallock and the social history of the JFK connections to Bruff and De Valera in Bruree.
Packages have been created for visitors to fully explore this area and beyond and are available on www.visitballyhoura.com
More than 100 representatives from local communities and businesses were joined by representatives from Fáilte Ireland and tourism officials from local authorities in Bruff’s beautiful Church of Ireland to hear from a line up of guest speakers.
“The objective of the launch is to broaden our minds to the opportunities that exist in collaborative destination marketing,” said Ballyhoura Failte vice Chair, John Kennedy who gave the official welcome.
Kate Harold, board member and manager of Lough Gur Heritage Centre said: “Ballyhoura Country is part of Munster Vales and Ireland’s Ancient East and this presents an ideal opportunity for stakeholders in the region to work together and cross sell to increase awareness of the wonderful products in the area and attract more visitors”
An overview of the tourism strategy for Ballyhoura Country, commissioned by Ballyhoura Development and conducted by David McNulty of Tourism Development International, highlighted a number of key actions to enhance both the heritage and activity offering within Ballyhoura Country.
A suite of audio guides and an outline of the tour guide network was presented by Roisin Burke of Abarta Audio Guides who emphasised the importance of local guides and storytellers for the enhancement of experiences as part of Ireland’s Ancient East.
Delegates also participated in a workshop designed to examine the possibilities for ‘packaging’ and ‘bundling’ experiences in Ballyhoura Country to take full advantage of the opportunities for attracting visitors.
