Dingle aims to open new tourism route from Springfield

TOURISM interests in West Kerry are hoping to attract more American visitors on the back of a fact-finding tour of the peninsula by a group from Spingfield, Massachusetts, this weekend.

The visit by members of the Western Mass tourism community is being organised under a co-marketing programme that aims to promote the Dingle Peninsula in Western Massachusetts and, in return, the Western Massachusetts region will be promoted throughout Kerry by the combined forces of the Dingle Peninsula Tourism Alliance and Kerry County Council.

The initiative draws on the close connections that developed through the flood of emigrants who abandoned West Kerry, and especially the Great Blasket, in favour of Springfield following the Famine and into the 20th Century. Those connections provided the impetus for a twinning agreement that was signed in 2017 between Dingle and West Springfield, where a fifth of the population is of Irish – and mostly West Kerry – descent.

The Springfield group will travel around the Dingle Peninsula over the weekend, and their itinerary includes a tour of the Blasket Island Heritage Centre and a visit to Pobailscoil Chorca Dhuibhne to meet the 40 students who will be visiting West Springfield in April to continue an ongoing connection between the school and West Springfield High School.

The delegation will be given an official welcome at Dingle Tourist Office on Monday, April 1, by Minister Brendan, Mayor of Kerry Norma Moriarty and Chief Executive of Kerry County Council Moira Murell, along with local tourism and community representatives.

The event in the tourist office takes place from 2pm – 5pm and locals are welcome to drop in to meet the visitors, find out about Western Massachussets and maybe pick up a gift from participating Western Mass attractions, such as the Yankee Candle Company and the Big E exposition.

“Our parts of the world have been joined together with common heritage so it’s fitting that we get to know each other and that our residents benefit from travel to each other’s regions, said Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau President Mary Kay Wydra. “We think this will be the beginning of a long relationship.”