Bord Failte not interested in promoting Sligo

The Office of Public Works and Bord Fáilte came in for severe criticism recently after showing a complete lack of co-operation towards an Asian television crew who were visiting County Sligo‘s beauty spots.

The film crew spent 21 days in Ireland during which they visited Sligo to film some of the best tourist attractions in the county.

the Asia TV crew were here to produce a travel log ‘No Frontiers’ style TV show, visiting many of Sligo‘s wonderful tourist attractions and beauty spots, including Carrowkeel Megalithic Tombs, Eagles Flying Raptor Centre in Ballymote, Strandhill Seaweed Baths, and Lissadell House, as well as the Castle Dargan Hotel and Golf Course.

The film crew were in Ireland for a total of 21 days and travelled from Belfast to Sligo where it spent two days filming. The crew then proceeded to Galway, the Aran Islands, and to the South-West Region.

However, Bord Fáilte North West “displayed little or no interest in getting involved, and then we wonder why the numbers of tourists visiting our region is dropping substantially year after year, It is because those charged with promoting Sligo and the North West as a gem in Ireland‘s crown are failing miserably to do so”. said local Deputy John Perry.

“We have tourist attractions and places of great beauty, scenery and history that are on a par or indeed exceed anything in the rest of Ireland , but heretofore there has been no genuine effort made at selling our product,” Deputy Perry claimed.

Mr Perry went on to say “It is time our tourist board and State agencies got real about promoting this region as a tourist destination and prove that they are not simply toothless quangos”.

This lack of ground-level interest in promoting Sligo was realised many years ago by local man Chris Ridley, who cites this lack of top-level interest in promoting Sligo as a tourist destination, as one of the main reasons for starting the Sligo Town on the Net website. website.

I’ve seen from personal experience how counties such as Cork and Kerry are vigorously marketed both at home and abroad, why isn’t the same marketing being undertaken for county Sligo? It really upset’s me to see how county Sligo seems to be totally ignored by the very people who should have more reason to promote it than anyone else, and who are getting well paid with taxpayers money to do so.