New tourism brand assignation for Lough Derg and North Tipp is positive thing

Lough Derg and North Tipperary was recently moved into a new tourism brand designation, Ireland's Hidden Heartlands, which is seen as being a very good thing for the region.

Sinead Cahalan of the Lough Derg Marketing Group told the councillors during a recent Nenagh MD meeting that there's a sense of positivity in the Tipperary tourism industry because of this new tourism designation.

“The Beara Breifne Way and Lough Derg will be two major components of the Ireland's Hidden Heartlands brand,” she said, “and we see this as a very positive thing. All of Nenagh Municipal District is now in the IHH brand.

“Support will be provided to businesses to help them transition over to IHH.

“We know that lots of people are walking our hiking trails in the county. To get an idea of walker numbers we are installing six hiking counters at six points.”

She showed the councillors new Blueway videos, which clearly show the routes for canoeists on Lough Derg. One of the videos showed the blueway from Dromineer to Luska.

The councillors said the videos were excellent and provide much-needed, very practical information for those tourists engaging in water sports.

Sinead said six videos have been made and another 15 will be made during 2022, covering a total of 160 kilometres of blueway trail.

Directions for the blueway trails on Lough Derg, such as the Dromineer to Luska trail, can be found on discoverloughderg.ie

She added that the Quest race will be returning to Lough Derg on September 10 next. Many will be coming from abroad for this popular event.

She pointed out that the region will have a number of hubs, including hubs in Terryglass, Portumna and Lorrha.

She said a sustainable building for water based activities will be constructed in Dromineer, which will feature hot showers, secure storage space, and changing facilities.

She pointed out that the digital tourism marketing strategy for the county is proving very successful.

“Because of our assimilation into IHH,” commented Cllr Michael O'Meara, “I feel that in tourism terms this area is ready to explode.”

Cllr Phyll Bugler said the Beara Breifne Way will be a gamechanger and will bring significant numbers of tourists to places that normally see few tourists, such as Templederry and Toomevara.

She added that the Lough Derg Way's signposting is not good enough and some walkers are getting lost.

Cllr Joe Hannigan agreed with Cllr O'Meara, that under IHH the region could really take off. “There is huge potential and serious scope to broaden our offerings. For example we could offer a monastic-themed walk between Terryglass and Lorrha. The new, excellent tourism office in Nenagh will be an outstanding HQ for all of this.”

Cllr Darcy said the Beara Breifne Way will bring benefits to places like Cloughjordan and Ballingarry. He said the McDonagh Museum in Cloughjordan and Cloughjordan House are two great assets.

Sinead Cahalan said there is going to be a massive marketing push for the Beara Breifne Way.

“Nenagh is a town with a great story to tell,” she added, “and it's all laid out there in the new tourism office.”

Cllr John Carroll pointed out that unfortunately some of the regional roads in the county are not up to scratch.