Killarney man putting adopted home of Tralee Bay on the map
AN eye-catching new map of the Tralee Bay area is getting a great reaction from locals and visitors getting their hands on the free publication at present.
From its azure waters to its rugged peaks and numerous tourist and family attractions, it’s an area that fairly has it all.
But the ‘all’ isn’t necessarily apparent that easily. The man behind the map, Killarney native Brian Coakley, only conceived of it after moving from his home town to wife Bláthnaid’s native Tralee with their young boys four years ago.
“I moved to Tralee four years ago from Killarney and I’m always looking for new things to see and do but the information was never easy to come by.”
Brian already had a keen understanding of the business of presenting landscapes to visitors through his outdoor app and website ActiveMe.ie. Traffic on ActiveMe set the popularity of the area out in bold:
“Out of the thousands of ActiveMe pages Mount Brandon is in the Top 10 of my most-visited with up to 40,000 views per year.”
Ireland’s second-highest peak fairly sells itself, but what of the countless other things too see, do and marvel at in the ‘Bay Area’? “Tralee and the Bay area has some of Ireland’s best mountains, beaches, walking and cycling routes, heritage sites, watersports, fishing, mountain-biking trails, bird watching and much more.
“As a resident of one of the biggest towns on the Wild Atlantic Way, I’m trying to encourage tourists to choose Tralee and the Bay Area for a holiday, to stop here and stay the night. We need to slow tourists down on the Wild Atlantic Way as they try to visit all the west coast’s main attractions in only a few days.” The Bay is rendered great justice by the hand of another Killarney man meanwhile - graphic designer Cathal Cudden.