Calls for Route 66-style Tipperary road trip to boost rural tourism
There have been calls for a Route 66-style road trip route through Tipperary, in an effort to bring tourists to more diverse areas of the county.
The call was made at the September meeting of Tipperary County Council by Fine Gael councillor Mark Fitzgerald, who said that tourists want to see the real parts of Ireland and Tipperary, and should be encouraged to drive through the towns and villages of the county, rather than getting on the motorway.
Councillors were given a briefing from Helen King, the chair of Tipperary Tourism, the body responsible for promoting tourism in the county, who was outlining the company’s five-year plan for enhancing tourism across Tipperary.
In response, councillor Fitzgerald said that while Tipperary already has a number of established tourism hotspots, more should be done to bring tourists to other areas of the county as well.
"We have our big tourist hubs in our Cahirs and our Cashels, but we need to branch it out to the rural regions, because I have rural pub and what I see from tourists when they’re coming is they love seeing the real Ireland, and they love going to areas in the outback you’d say, like Slievenamon, and even Fethard,” Cllr Fitzgerald said.
"In America you have Route 66, and you’ve seen the success of the Wild Atlantic Way, but maybe in Tipp we need to start looking at routes through the county that we can bring people in,” he added.
Since the motorway was built, people travelling from Kilkenny City to Cashel have used this route, but Cllr Fitzgerald said that a new rural route through the county should be considered.
"Why don’t we encourage a new route on the R692 and bring people through these small areas, and when they get to the main road in Ninemilehouse, bring them onto Michael Hogan’s homeplace in Grangemockler and they can go onto Carrick-on-Suir,” Cllr Fitzgerald suggested.