Ireland is cool for tourists
Sir, – With growing reports of tourists increasingly favouring cooler destinations in response to rising global temperatures, Ireland finds itself uniquely positioned to capitalise on this emerging trend.
Rather than lament our famously mild and often unpredictable weather, we should reframe it as one of our greatest natural assets. In a warming world, cool is not just a climate – it's a commodity.
What better way for Fáilte Ireland to embrace this than with the bold, memorable slogan: 'Ireland is Cool' – a message that is both literal and irresistibly marketable.
As global travellers seek respite from heatwaves and scorched landscapes, Ireland offers lush greenery, refreshing breezes, and a climate that invites exploration without exhaustion.
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In an era of climate consciousness, our weather is no longer a drawback - it's a destination. – Yours, etc,
GEOFF SCARGILL,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.
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Irish Times
11 hours ago
- Irish Times
Ireland is cool for tourists
Sir, – With growing reports of tourists increasingly favouring cooler destinations in response to rising global temperatures, Ireland finds itself uniquely positioned to capitalise on this emerging trend. Rather than lament our famously mild and often unpredictable weather, we should reframe it as one of our greatest natural assets. In a warming world, cool is not just a climate – it's a commodity. What better way for Fáilte Ireland to embrace this than with the bold, memorable slogan: 'Ireland is Cool' – a message that is both literal and irresistibly marketable. As global travellers seek respite from heatwaves and scorched landscapes, Ireland offers lush greenery, refreshing breezes, and a climate that invites exploration without exhaustion. READ MORE In an era of climate consciousness, our weather is no longer a drawback - it's a destination. – Yours, etc, GEOFF SCARGILL, Bray, Co Wicklow.
Irish Times
15 hours ago
- Irish Times
Alison Healy on a woman who became one of the world's first and most fearless aviators
The two middle-aged women sitting opposite me on the train were chatting animatedly. I was shamelessly eavesdropping, as is mandatory in such situations. One of them was talking about her adventure-seeking daughter and noted that she was 'mad for road.' It's an apt description for someone who can't stay in one place for long and has a constant yearning to travel. Years ago, it was used in a somewhat critical way, especially if a woman was involved. It seemed to suggest that she would be better employed scrubbing dried scrambled eggs from a saucepan rather than travelling the country's highways and byways. But to me, being mad for road is something to be admired. I was unabashedly mad for road from a very young age. One day, when I was small, I noticed my mother was changing into her good clothes and I asked where she was going. She said she was off to America. READ MORE Did I want to come? Well, I didn't need to be asked twice. I changed into my Sunday clothes as speedily as possible in case she left without me. You can imagine the crushing disappointment when she emerged with her tartan shopping bag and said she was off to the town on her bicycle to get the messages. No airplane required. Now well recovered from that small setback, I am still mad for road and plan to remain so until forced to make that very final one-way journey. But I still have a long way to go before catching up with Clara Adams. Born in Ohio in 1884, she is largely forgotten today despite being one of the original influencers. S he called herself a persistent first flighter, one of those people who flew on maiden flights when air travel was taking off. She gave lectures about her trips and helped to popularise air travel with the masses. She could do this because of her wealth. Her marriage to George Adams, president of the American Leather Tanning company, meant she had no money worries. He was more than 30 years her senior and she was just 44 when he died, leaving her truly free to indulge her longing for the skies. Details of her epic odysseys could fill this entire page, but let's highlight a few. In 1928 she bought the first transatlantic air ticket ever sold to a woman and flew on the Graf Zeppelin airship from New York to Europe. In 1931 she was the first woman to buy a ticket to fly on the largest aircraft ever built at that time - the Dornier DO-X flying boat. She boarded in Rio de Janeiro and flew to New York. 'You could hardly tell you were flying,' she told the New York Times afterwards. When the Hindenburg made its maiden flight from Germany in 1936, she was at the top of the queue. And immediately after the Hindenburg disaster the following year, she put down a $100 deposit for another airship flight, to demonstrate her confidence in the safety of air travel. She was also aboard many Pan Am Clippers for their inaugural flights, including the first passenger flight across the Pacific, and the first flight from New York to Bermuda. But her most famous trip came in June 1939 when she set a world record for an around-the-world flight made on passenger airlines. It took her 16 days and 19 hours and took her from New York to Marseilles and on to places such as Leipzig, Athens, Basra, Jodhpur, Bangkok, Guam and Honolulu. One would imagine that she was exhausted after all that, but, fresh off the plane in New York, she hot-footed it to the World Fair in Queens to talk about her aerial adventures. The New York Times reported that she was wearing a Chinese silk suit bought in Hong Kong, and a Panama hat from Rangoon. She described the trip as 'beautiful beyond description and sublime beyond the most vivid imagination of the human mind.' Similar to something you might say after disembarking from a Ryanair plane in Leeds. The maiden of maiden voyages wasn't done yet. The following September, she flew from San Francisco to New Zealand on Pan Am's first passenger flight. The small matter of the second World War put a halt to her travels and then there were no more maiden flights to take. She offered to go to the moon in 1966 but that was one inaugural flight she couldn't buy a ticket for. Fittingly, her travelling did not end with her death in 1971. At her request, her ashes were scattered over the Atlantic Ocean from an airplane. Now there's a woman who was mad for road. And sky.
The Irish Sun
16 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Spain hotels targeted & sunseekers surrounded in ‘unacceptable' protest chaos amid ‘tourism is terrorism' alert to Irish
FUMING Spanish locals yesterday surrounded a hotel and targeted tourists with water guns as mass protests unfolded across the country. Campaigners were heard yelling out "tourism is terrorism" and "tourists go home" as the marches kicked off in multiple cities. 6 Activists and residents marched to demand measures against mass tourism Credit: EPA/CATI CLADERA 6 Protesters shout anti-tourism slogans at tourists sitting at a bar in Palma Credit: REUTERS/Francisco Ubilla 6 Police moved in to ease tensions Credit: Splash News Campaigners for forcing locals out of affordable housing, raising the cost of living and making the city centres unusable. And, after Around 100 noisy activists banging drums surrounded upmarket eatery Cappuccino Borne next to a McDonald's in the centre of Police moved in to ease tension as the demonstrators held up cardboard posters reading: 'As You Come I Have To Go.' READ MORE IN TRAVEL The protesters also chanted ''The Streets Will Always Be Ours', Go Home' in English and 'No Balconing' in a reference to the young tourists who have traditionally been blamed by islanders for the dangerous practice of jumping from Magaluf hotel balconies into their swimming pools or trying to climb between balconies while under the influence of drink and drugs. Today the Balearic Islands Government vice-president Antoni Costa said their behaviour had been 'unacceptable.' He admitted they had represented a small minority of the estimated 8,000 people police said had taken to the streets yesterday evening. But Mr Costa told a local radio station: 'This type of behaviour is not acceptable. Most read in News Travel "This government condemns and rejects the actions of a small minority of people who rebuked tourists who were relaxing on a terrace having a drink or eating.' Claiming hundreds of thousands of local jobs would be lost if politicians pandered to the wishes of activists calling for 'tourist degrowth,' he added: 'Abandoning tourism would be madness. Anti-tourist protesters blast holidaymakers with water guns & block hotels "We're a tourist economy and we're proud to be so. 'I think people are deluding themselves if they think that in the Balearic Islands it's possible to do mostly other things than tourism. 'What guarantees the future of tourism is to taking into account the social and environmental sustainability factor. Looking the other way is not the right way to go. 'We must implement policies that allow us to move from an economy that basically grows in volume to an economy that grows in value.' WHAT IS OVERTOURISM? OVERTOURISM refers to the phenomenon where a destination experiences a volume of tourists that exceeds its manageable capacity The term is often used to describe the negative consequences of mass tourism, which includes overcrowding and environmental issues As a result, popular destinations have become less enjoyable for both visitors and locals Local communities, in particular, bear the brunt, facing rising costs and a depletion of resources In response, national and local governments have started to implement measures to reduce overtourism. Some solutions include: Safeguarding historical and heritage sites Promoting off-peak travel Tourism caps and regulations Promoting lesser-known destinations Gabriel Llobera, president of the Association of Hotel Chains in the Balearic Islands, also condemned the incidents at the end of the march yesterday in Palma. He said: 'The tourists that were targeted were sat on terraces provided by business leaders who to be able to receive them have paid their taxes and done things correctly. 'We condemn the anti-social acts we saw yesterday.' He added: 'We have almost 200,000 people who are working directly in the tourist sector and we're talking about 8,000 people attending a demonstration. 'If we have a million people in the Balearic Islands that's 0.8 per cent.' SMOKE FLARE THROWN INTO HOTEL The ugly scenes that marred the end of yesterday's march in Palma followed Locals also used flares after congregating outside the front door of the establishment with placards claiming tourism was pricing them out of housing and robbing them of their futures. Staff at Generator Local reports said an orange smoke flare had been thrown into the reception area, although no-one is thought to have been injured. COPS STEPPED IN Police stepped in to stop protesters reaching the city's Shouts of 'Tourists Go Home' and 'One More Tourist, One Less Local' could be heard as activists marched through the streets. They also yelled out: 'This tourism is terrorism.' City police said only 600 people had taken part, far less than the 8,000 who took part in the protest in Palma according to police although organisers put the figure at around 30,000. Other marches took place in the Basque city of San Sebastian, several cities in Italy and in Lisbon as part of a co-ordinated series of street protests in southern Europe against the problems activists say mass tourism causes. 6 Police said an estimated 8,000 people attended the demonstration yesterday Credit: Splash News 6 A woman holds a sign reading 'Tourists go home' during Palma's demonstration Credit: Getty Images 6 The march in Mallorca was the biggest of the different gatherings held as part of a coordinated call in different cities Credit: EPA/CATI CLADERA
