Five-year plan for development of Mayo's Gourmet Greenway
By Tom Gillespie
A FIVE-year plan has been formulated to further develop and enhance the Gourmet Greenway trail along Mayo’s Wild Atlantic Way.
The 22 producers along the route have participated in a survey seeking their views on the way forward.
It was undertaken by Shore Marketing and among the recommendations are to entice visitors to spend more time in the Clew Bay area and greater cooperation among the members themselves.
Mr. Dermot Madigan, general manager, Mulranny Park Hotel, one of the founders of the Gourmet Greenway, explained that earlier this year they were approached by Fáilte Ireland and Leader to take a look at the Gourmet Greenway itself and how it is going to grow, change or develop into something that Fáilte Ireland and Mayo County Council could support, and most importantly how it could attract additional visitors to this part of Mayo.
He said: “Susanne O’Brien of Shore Tourism was appointed to carry out the study. She has spent a number of months examining it and talking to members, and potential members, as to how we can grow the Gourmet Greenway as a visitor experience in this part of Mayo.”
Suzanne is based in Westport and works in all things hotels, tourism and marketing.
She said: “Six months ago we were tasked with the job of looking at the Gourmet Greenway, which has been in existence for the past 10 years.
“I was really lucky because I was part of the team with Dermot Maddigan, way back in 2009/10, when we came in with the concept of the Gourmet Greenway. It was a joy for me to come back 12 years later and to look at it and to see where it could grow. We looked at the whole background of it - what works, what doesn’t work, what could be improved.
“We looked at other trails and food trails, all sorts of different trails, both nationally and internationally, to see if we can pull from those trails what we could try and implement here for the whole of this region.”
She added: “One of the first things we looked at was just the trail itself so when people come to Ireland to have an experience somewhere they look at where they can go from point A to B.
“One of the big things was to try and get the whole of the Clew Bay area included. The whole thing about Fáilte Ireland is about getting people to the whole Clew Bay area.
“One of the recommendations was to try and get new people involved right through from Clare Island to the whole of the area so that when people come to Mulranny, Westport, Clare Island, or wherever, it might be the reason to stay a bit longer in the area. So they will come to Mulranny and stay a day or two, go to Achill and experience some of the producers and breweries there, and then they will go to Westport and experience different things.
“One of the things we found was that a lot of the businesses work very busily within their own business and sometimes it needs somebody to come and say if this producer was to work with this producer and that producer, say bundle three producers together, it becomes a visitor experience.
“Maybe those are the type of things we can change into one-day itineraries for people to do, and then it becomes a two-day itinerary, or three days. Then all of a sudden you are giving people a reason to stay in Mulranny for two or three days rather than just flitting in and out.”
She continued: “There is really goodwill from members to work together. This is a five-year plan, there are some new members, there will be new experiences involved, so it is a matter of getting all the ideas together.
“There are ideas of the commercialisation of the trail, so whether it is within your own businesses in having different things that you can sell, promote or cross-promote within each of the members, it means everybody working together, promoting each other.
"People buy from people and if you promote other people’s business it all helps. The plan is there. It is a long plan with lots of information in it. It will be circulated in time and hopefully the members will all take something from it."