Opportunity to widen the reach of Wild Atlantic Way

KERRY County Council is to call for the addition of Cromane to the Wild Atlantic Way route during a review of the hugely popular tourist route this year.

The local authority and local tourism groups are also calling for the Upper Road in Coome in Valentia Island to be included on the Wild Atlantic Way route following road improvement works undertaken on the route. This would offer even better scenic views of the Iveragh peninsula to tourists driving the route, according to Kerry County Council Tourism Officer John Griffin.

However, it wasn’t included on the original route because the road was not suitable for heavy traffic.

The Wild Atlantic Way initiative, developed by Failte Ireland, has been hugely popular since it was first launched and has proven to be a huge tourist attraction along the West Coast. The route, which is more than 2,500km encompasses 500km of the Kerry Coastline.

The review being carried out by Failte Ireland this year, three years after the tourism initiative was first launched, aims to look at more additions to the route.

The review will also look at the signature and discovery points along the route which guide tourists to the more scenic sights of the Wild Atlantic Way.

In Kerry there are two signature points: the Blasket Islands, and Bray head in Valentia which is the Skellig Michael signature point. A further signature point is also needed this time in north Kerry according to John Griffin and this should be looked at in the review.

There are 30 discovery points in Kerry including Dunquin, Inch, Rossbeigh and Fenit as well as Tarbert and Carrickfoyle Castle amongst others. Bray Head in Valentia, the Kerry Cliffs and Geokaun, all in South Kerry, are linked to the Skellig Michael signature point.

However, Mr Griffin, says more discovery points should be included in Kerry particularly in the Kenmare Bay area.

“There are none between Derrynane and the Beara peninsula. Kenmare is a big area so there should be more discovery points in this area.”

Mr Griffin says as tourism officer he has already raised suggestions with Failte Ireland on how to improve the route and to focus on Kerry. The council will be making a submission to the review outlining what it feels Kerry needs. Some of these suggestions are also included in Kerry County Council’s tourism plan for 2016-2022.