€5.5m tourism investment announced in Kilkenny

Threadhead

Footpaths are the domain of the council, nothing to do with the tourism body in Kilkenny. In fact, everything you mentioned above has absolutely nothing to do with anything that everyone else on this thread is talking about.

The money will be going on developing St. Mary's Church as a museum, work on upgrades to the Castle, the Courthouse, Rothe House and St. Canice's, a series of walking tours for the city, in fact a whole new tour system for the city, a new garden along the River Nore through the city centre not to mention the branding, marketing and advertisement of this stretch of our city that we want people around the world to visit for decades to come.

So in short, that is where the 5.5 million is going.

The main beneficiary of the money will be the people who live, work and enjoy visiting in Kilkenny.

When tourists go home for the winter, we should double our efforts to get people to visit the city. That is currently happening. See my last post for some answers to that question.

There's no reason for the Black Abbey to charge, they currently don't. St. Mary's will be a museum so they will probably charge like most museums do, like Rothe House.

As for your assertion that guide books 'lie' about Kilkenny being like Edinburgh, I would be interested if you could please name one city in Ireland that is more like Edinburgh than Kilkenny is?

fabbydabby

It's a totally directionless, foundationless, ill-informed, misguided, idiotic, non-sequiturial tirade you're responding to and I am surprised you even bothered.

Dozen Wicked Words

fabbydabby wrote: »

It's a totally directionless, foundationless, ill-informed, misguided, idiotic, non-sequiturial tirade you're responding to and I am surprised you even bothered.

I don't like the current gubermint or Phil Hogan in particular, but does seem a strange rant about what seems to be totally good news, but at least it was only a small paragraph, much easier to read than normal

Threadhead

fabbydabby wrote: »

It's a totally directionless, foundationless, ill-informed, misguided, idiotic, non-sequiturial tirade you're responding to and I am surprised you even bothered.

I was hoping that spelling things out in the most simplistic way possible would make it stop and the rest of us could have a normal, informed and lively discussion.

foxcoverteddy

it would seem one has to agree to avoid being bombarded with some ill mannered criticism.
If you have never driven up Princes Street you will not be aware that there is no possibility that Kilkenny can ever look like Edinburgh, not that one would, it is unique in it's own right.
However the 5.5mill seems to have gone to some peoples head, we will do this, we will do that, and in a flash the money will be gone.
Could there be a major tourist attraction that should be investigated, Catbear's suggestion of a medieval festival, everyone has appeared to dismiss it, you can't run these things without money. Banquets, Jousting etc, something no else has, rather than bits and pieces or peoples pet projects.
Walking Tours was mentioned, I was an idiot mentioning the pavements, okay, tried a walking tour when there is not sufficient room to pass, council problem, no tourist board.
So who is going to have the say as to what will happen?
Interesting to say the least

catbear

Foxy I don't believe anyone is dismissing my suggestion and broadly I think concentrating efforts of heritage tourism is a general plus.

I've been to Edinburgh and I would say that there a similar heritage opportunity to be grasped in Kilkenny. A mush smaller scale in Kilkenny but no less unique for that.

If Phil Hogan was gone in the morning we'd still have forge new ways attracting visitors. It's good that you're generally repulsed by the parish pump nature of it but take your vitriol out on him in the run up to the next election.

Plus aside from Phil Hogan there have been plenty of people not involved in politics who have been championing Kilkennys Heritage in a voluntary capacity for decades, think of the archeaology society for one. The surrounding communities can gain from this if they grasp the initiative.

foxcoverteddy

Catbear, I have said it before, you are one exceptional person, brilliant.
As for the rest, sorry you just do not get a look in.
So I have decided it is time to leave the boards, Catbear thanks, everyone else, I will not stoop to your level.

ft9

So this is what cyber bullying looks like eh?

Captain Havoc

ft9 wrote: »

So this is what cyber bullying looks like eh?

If you see any instance of cyber-bullying, please report it.

ft9

That was supposed to be a joke. I'm here all week.

road_high

ft9 wrote: »

So this is what cyber bullying looks like eh?

No it's like what cyper-crap reads like!

pueblo

mfitzy wrote: »

No it's like what cyper-crap reads like!

you can just shorten to it to cyber-bull

road_high

Soup kitchens...where this does idiot get off.
Amongst the highest social welfare rates in the EU and yet this clever public rep would rather even more ploughed into the welfare state. Some of these FF crowd are still on a different planet. I would expect this crap from SF or the Workers party. Honestly.

The investment will be a catalyst for private sector business and will thus create jobs. Anyone with a braincell would see that. Sure we might as well go back to living in caves :rolleyes:

http://www.kilkennypeople.ie/news/local/we-need-a-soup-kitchen-not-a-great-garden-1-4485253

Threadhead

Maybe that absolute thundering idiot of a man should ask questions of his own disgrace of a political party as to why people are living in poverty in the city? The hypocrisy is absolutely disgusting and the sooner he is no longer involved in local politics the better. Himself and McGuinness should volunteer to open a soup kitchen in their constituency offices when they're not using them.

That 5.5 million will create an awful lot more jobs and awful lot more business for the city in the long run.

fabbydabby

Its a psuedo-populist sound byte, and not a particularly well thought out one.

Nobody wants to deny money to the needy but this money is specifically for the long term strategic development of the town's economy and to divert it elsewhere would be to the detriment of exactly that.

Tool.

Cutting the number of people on the council by 75% would go a long way towards feeding a few hungry people so it would, funny how he didn't suggest that.

road_high

Yes, opposing something for the sake of oppossing basically. All because his own miserable party when they were in power never bothered much with Kilkenny.
Soup kitchens; it's cheap, hystrerical sound bite. And as people have rightly pointed out, it was his party and their bankrupt policies to blame for some people needing them.

Mankbag

Threadhead wrote: »

Maybe that absolute thundering idiot of a man should ask questions of his own disgrace of a political party as to why people are living in poverty in the city? The hypocrisy is absolutely disgusting and the sooner he is no longer involved in local politics the better. Himself and McGuinness should volunteer to open a soup kitchen in their constituency offices when they're not using them.

That 5.5 million will create an awful lot more jobs and awful lot more business for the city in the long run.

An extremely unfair and unhelpful remark to make about our local TD, Threadhead, and I'm surprised at you. How would he possibly find time for all his media appearances if he was helping out in a soup kitchen?

road_high

Mankbag wrote: »

An extremely unfair and unhelpful remark to make about our local TD, Threadhead, and I'm surprised at you. How would he possibly find time for all his media appearances if he was helping out in a soup kitchen?

Indeed...next he'll be asking him to sell one of his many beemers to fund the soup kitchen

redtelephone

Kilkenny was bottom of the pile (with Carlow) in the S.E. region for revenue earned from overseas visitors 2011. Wexford Waterford and South Tipp are well ahead. The visitors are coming but not spending much money. Will the 5.5m help generate more revenue?

road_high

redtelephone wrote: »

Kilkenny was bottom of the pile (with Carlow) in the S.E. region for revenue earned from overseas visitors 2011. Wexford Waterford and South Tipp are well ahead. The visitors are coming but not spending much money. Will the 5.5m help generate more revenue?

I find that hard to believe, how are these figures calculated? Find it hard to believe Westmeath could be at €39 million and kilkenny €29 million (same as Carlow). With all due respect to both counties...in all fairness...has kiljenny more hotel beds? Would have thought so for start.

redtelephone

The total number of hotel beds in Kilkenny city and county is 2769, in Westmeath it's 2697, more or less the same,( btw Carlow has 1368 beds). Don't forget Athlone and the Shannon plus lakelands, fishing around Mullingar, big tourist attractions.

Source:
http://www.failteireland.ie/FailteIreland/media/WebsiteStructure/Documents/3_Research_Insights/1_Sectoral_SurveysReports/Accommodation-Capacity-2012.pdf?ext=.pdf

Earlier in the year when the figures came out, the problem was identified as too few foreign tourists overnighting in Kilkenny. It's apparently seen as a day-trip destination. Unfortunately it's also the most expensive in the country: http://kclr96fm.com/news/kilkenny-hotels-are-the-most-expensive-in-ireland/

It seems to be that homegrown Irish tourism is more important by far to KK, and foreign tourists are coming but not staying. Can the 5.5 million project be used to change that?

Threadhead

It can in part and it's a problem they're trying to address. I've done some work on part of this project over the past year so I'm in a somewhat reliable position to comment on it, at least from a developmental perspective.

A MAJOR issue that Kilkenny has in terms of tourism as redtelephone has alluded to is the fact that most tourists leave Kilkenny by 5pm every day. So a major part of the investment in the medieval mile project is to create events and attractions that will bridge the gap between 5/6pm when things shut down in Kilkenny and 8/9pm when nightlife kicks off. And not just pubs, but theatre, music etc.

road_high

Yea lots of day trippers from Dublin. There's a few trips that do KK and Glendalough and offer a chance tosee the "real" Ireland beyond the Pale.
These are all very welcome indeed but would be nice to get them to stay longer.

No doubt I'll be shot down for saying this, but dare I say Kilkenny is not at all oversupplied with hotels beds compared to other areas. I was very surprised to read we only have about the same Westmeath (seriously like) and only double that of Carlow. Both counties not exactly where springs to mind for holidays. Though both lovely counties too.
Another point that gets me thinking this is the fact we are the dearest in Ireland for staying in. Surely that again points to not exactly a plethora of hotel beds. And we need not just hotel beds. Attractions and leisure facilities are needed to get people to stay. And this is where projects like the Medieval mile come in to play.

Mankbag

Alarmingly, the Kilkenny People appear to be throwing their weight behind the naysayers. This week's edition has a vox pop asking which should it be, a riverside garden or a soup kitchen (as if it's a choice between one and the other!), and an editorial decrying the former. Dreadfully myopic, demagogue stuff. Would they prefer if there had been NO €5.5m grant?

road_high

Mankbag wrote: »

Alarmingly, the Kilkenny People appear to be throwing their weight behind the naysayers. This week's edition has a vox pop asking which should it be, a riverside garden or a soup kitchen (as if it's a choice between one and the other!), and an editorial decrying the former. Dreadfully myopic, demagogue stuff. Would they prefer if there had been NO €5.5m grant?

That was a rather emotive vox pop title and grossly stupid by the paper.
Of course people were gona say soup kitchen given such a narrow term of reference.

Ireland has a massive welfare state and if people cannot survive on what's available then frankly I don't see why the state should have to step in again. There are exceptions of course, but these are short term exceptional circumstances. Setting up a soup kitchen like this breeds further helplessness and entitlement culture.

To spend the money on something long term that will reap rewards to business and ultimately jobs is what we need.

Threadhead

The Kilkenny People is the absolute pits. But then again, countless threads here have gone over that before.

The fact that these idiots (and Joe Malone, the biggest idiot of all) think that a massive development for our town AND a soup kitchen for people in poverty are mutually exclusive says it all.

redtelephone

mfitzy wrote: »

No doubt I'll be shot down for saying this, but dare I say Kilkenny is not at all oversupplied with hotels beds compared to other areas. I was very surprised to read we only have about the same Westmeath (seriously like) and only double that of Carlow.

Carlow takes in the same amount of overseas tourist income income as Kilkenny with only half the hotel beds, and less than 1/3 of the visitors. Wicklow gets the same amount of visitors as KK but makes over twice the income. Below I've given the income per county and the visitors per county. IMO the poor showing by KK can only mean that either the city /county is not too interested in foreign tourists staying around, or else that they've been trying to encourage them but getting it awfully wrong. So do we know has anybody been in touch with these other counties (Carlow, Westmeath, Waterford Wicklow etc.) to see how they're doing it right, before the 5.5 million makeover?

road_high

See work has finally started. Long overdue that High St. as one of Ireland's premier main streets should get a decent facelift, it's the late 90s since any serious work was done and parts of the paths are in a desperate state.

It's the start of the Medieval mile project, which will pay itself many times over thought the 100s of thousands of visitors that will pass through every year and (hopefully) spend more in the city.

http://www.kilkennypeople.ie/news/local/paths-of-progress-high-street-overhaul-to-start-next-month-1-4808661

foxcoverteddy

What fantastic news, at last something for the tourists, apart from the amusement arcade, least said the better at this point. You can just see the bus loads of visitors getting down on their hands and knees photographing the wonderful Chinese kerbs and the non slip paving, others no doubt will be laying in the road checking the quality of the tarmacadam.
Gosh the people of kilkenny are so lucky, pity about the pot holes everywhere else and the dangers of the Callan and the Durrow roads, the views of the city from the derelict site on the Callan road might jog memories of Damascus or Kabul, but no, we will have the best kerbs, pavements and tarmacadam in the whole of the EU, thank you Phil.
Where will the tourists spend their money, we have betting shops, pubs and the amusement arcade.
Someone said we want the tourists to stop until the night-life begins, presume they own a pub, these tourists in the main are on tight schedules, they have to get back to the hotels in other towns who try not to rip the tourists off.
When will Kilkenny learn it is not the be all of tourism, apart from the castle what else does it offer?

road_high

foxcoverteddy wrote: »

When will Kilkenny learn it is not the be all of tourism, apart from the castle what else does it offer?

Maybe ask the 100s of thousands that visit here plus read the reviews on (unbiased) Lonely Planet and Rough Guides. There's lots on offer "apart from the Castle".
It never ceases to amaze me how people can only see a negative in something positive like this.