A chance for the Irish to know Ireland
Staycation is the new buzzword in Irish tourism circles and the great hope for the industry in 2010. A multitude of surveys have thrown up reams of data that all lead to the conclusion that Irish people are going to holiday in Ireland next year. A stay at home vacation has been abbreviated to a staycation. Instead of the sunny costas of Spain or the delights of the long haul destinations like Barbados and Mauritius, Irish people will spend their holiday time and money in Ireland in 2010.
The affluence of the last 15 years has meant that the wonderful sights and attractions of Ireland are not actually known to many younger Irish people in the 30-40 age brackets. Their travel experiences have all been abroad to the extent that they don't know their own country. Money was no object in the good old boom days and the more you had the further you went. Ireland certainly didn't figure on the horizon in the eyes of the beautiful young things who were Irish and earned their money here, but spent it elsewhere in strange and sometimes unpronounceable currencies.
They possess more knowledge about the art galleries and museums of Florence and Paris than, say, the magnificent Chester Beatty Library in Dublin. They are very familiar with the Acropolis of Athens but know nothing about the magnificence of Newgrange in County Meath. The scenery of Austria is ever so familiar to them and yet they have never taken the stunning journey that is the Ring of Kerry or the incredible drive through Connemara. They rave about Lake Garda in Italy but have never seen the Lakes of Killarney. They toured the Rhine on a cruiser but never ventured as far as the Shannon River and cruise through beautiful Lough Ree or Lough Derg down to the beautiful ambience of Killaloe in Clare. They know the Swiss Alps and the Pyrenees but have never experienced the exhilaration of a walk along the wonderful Wicklow Way.
Out of the desperate doom and gloom that exists in Ireland comes a chance for people to explore their own country and in doing so, perhaps kick start a new prosperous era in the tourist industry that is so badly needed. It is now up to that industry to play its part in taking advantage of the silver lining around this particular cloud by offering value that will open the eyes of the staycationers and ensure they have an experience they will want to repeat
Seamus Maguire is a 54-year old businessman who lives in County Louth, Ireland and who writes about Ireland as a hobby, but with a passion. He runs a website called Look Around Ireland, www.lookaroundireland.com, which provides detailed information and interactive virtual tours of all the highlights that Ireland has to offer to the visitor. On his website, there is a specific section called the Ireland Travel Guide, http://www.lookaroundireland.com/ireland-travel-guide.php, which is a very useful detailed travel tool for any visitor to Ireland from abroad and for Irish people visiting other parts of their country.
