Concern over Sligo info on Atlantic Way website
CONCERN has been expressed over the level of up-to-date information on Sligo events on the Wild Atlantic Way website.
On June 30 th Sligo Tourist Office shut down its social media accounts and directed the public towards the Wild Atlantic Way website.
This newspaper searched for events in Sligo on www.wildatlanticway.com from today Tuesday 8th August to next Tuesday 15 th August and received a
“No results found” message on screen.
A spokeswoman for Fáilte Ireland which runs the Wild Atlantic Way website told The Sligo Champion that “events only appear on the website IF events/festivals themselves have provided us with their information through the online portal: https:// www.failteirelandevents.ie/.”
On this portal, Fáilte Ireland makes it clear that the Wild Atlantic Way website is not the place to go to find out what’s happening in Sligo:
“It is NOT a general entertainments database, NOR a regular ‘What’s On’ database, NOR is it a listing of ALL events.
It is intended to gather and collate information on one-time, annual, seasonal or infrequently occurring festivals and special events that are of a QUALITY and SCALE to specifically target and attract overseas and/ or non-local visitors to the area they are being staged in,” the website reads.
Sligo County Councillor Dara Mulvey believes community groups and Festival organisers in the county are not reaping the same rewards from the Wild Atlantic Way as those in other parts of the country.
“Earlier this year it was published that Sligo is one of the least-visited counties on the Wild Atlantic Way, according to figures released,” said Cllr Mulvey.
“This certainly is not helped by the fact that Sligo Tourist office announced earlier in the summer that they were closing down their Facebook and Twitter page which was doing an excellent job promoting festivals and events throughout County Sligo. It was handed over to the Wild Atlantic Way to promote,” Cllr Mulvey said.
“I highlighted my concerns about this at earlier meetings of Sligo County Council,” he said.
“Fáilte Ireland, the state body responsible for developing Ireland’s tourism offering, has to do more to attract visitors to county Sligo and to promote all the great events and Tourist attraction Sligo County has to offer,” he added.
It is not for “small-scale local events with limited capacity to attract national or international visitors.”
All regular entertainments are ineligible for the website, such as pub sessions, music sessions, normal concerts and band performances and theatre.
Also ineligible for inclusion on the website are package activities/adventures and small-scale add-on events at visitor attractions/galleries etc.
In order to feature on the WAW website, the Festival or Special Event should be “special”, of a quality and scale to specifically target and attract overseas and/ or non-local visitors.
Cllr Jerry Lundy said: “What we need is a loop off the WAW from the Bridge at Ballisodare up to Tubbercurry/ South /Sligo and returning again via Lough Talt/ Lough Easkey (Killarney of the West).”
Cllr Keith Henry said he found Tread Softly, Old Fair Day, Sligo Live and Social Media Links Golf Challenge “but it took a bit of looking!”
Innismurry Island does not appear on the website. For information on Sligo can be found at sligotourism.ie (comprehensive information), sligomusic. ie, sligomusicians.ie, discoverireland.ie, irishtourist. com (had no listings for Sligo in Aug) eventbrite.ie and entertainment.ie.