… is screwed.
That is my interpretation [and not, I should stress, to be attributed to the report’s authors, sponsors or supporters] of the results of the June 2014 report Ireland’s Inland Waterways – Review & Outlook prepared by Tourism & Transport Consult International for the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation “with support from the Irish Boat Rental Association (IBRA)” and downloadable here [PDF].
The report is well worth reading. I’ve been charting the decline in the cruiser hire industry, as indicated by Shannon lock passages, for some time now; a source within the industry told me recently that the decline was actually worse than those figures indicated. The report shows that the IBRA fleet size went from 388 in 1992 to a peak of 533 in 1997 but down to 225 in 2013.
The fleet refinancing problems look to be horrific and it doesn’t seem to me that more marketing (if marketing is taken to be Promotion rather than any of the other Ps) is going to be enough: another P, Product, needs to be redefined rather more usefully than in Tourism Ireland’s segmentation waffle about “Great Escapers” and the “Culturally Curious”. Tourism is good for waterways, but products other than (or as well as) straightforward cruising need to be offered.
And consider this:
Over the past 10 years upwards of €200 million in state expenditure has been invested in upgrading infrastructural facilities along the waterways. The investment has helped to transform the quality and quantity of moorings, navigational aids, signposting. Mooring capacity has been doubled over the period as well as the developments of several integrated harbors including berths with associated on-shore facilities including toilet and shower blocks, picnic and play areas, looped walks, etc. Such developments have taken place at locations on the Shannon and Grand Canal, including Boyle, Clondara, and Killaloe.
No wonder WI’s budget is being cut, if €200 million went to subsidising the Irish bourgeoisie rather than to bringing in more tourists. Of course if the Clones Sheugh were reconstructed tourists would come flocking from Germany, Austria and Switzerland: indeed from all around the world.
And the report says of the Lakelands and Inland Waterways Initiative, about which I have expressed scepticism,
The relevance of the well intentioned initiative and proposed branding to the cruising business was diluted by the large area encompassed by the new regional initiative and the less than adequate resources invested in effective marketing in key source markets. Unfortunately the results of the marketing effort do not appear to have raised the profile of Shannon and linked waterways.
I did think it odd that Abbeyleix got funding ….
This report is a very welcome dose of realism. I want to give it more thought before commenting on individual points, so I’ll come back to it again, but in the meantime I urge everyone to read it (it’s pretty short).
h/t Antoin Daltún
[amended]
Posted in Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Natural heritage, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Safety, Scenery, Shannon, Sources, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management, Weather
Tagged boats, Clones, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, Erne, Grand Canal, Ireland, Lough Derg, Operations, Royal Canal, Shannon, Shannon-Erne Waterway, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland
I am grateful to Waterways Ireland for letting me have copies of the recorded numbers of boat passages through Shannon locks and Portumna Bridge for the first five months of 2014. All the usual caveats apply:
On the other hand, the figures do include the Shannon’s most significant tourism activity, the cruiser hire business. And they are our only consistent long-term indicator of usage of the inland waterways.
The total amount of traffic continues to decline.
Private-boat traffic is still below its average for the period but increased slightly on the same period of the previous year [but see the third caveat above].
Hire-boat traffic is just over one third of its 2003 level.
Since 2003, both private and hired traffic have fallen, from the highest figures attained within the period, by about 60% of the 2003 figure. But private traffic first rose by 40% of the 2003 figure, so it is now only about 20% below that figure. Hire traffic has fallen pretty consistently since 2003.
Hire traffic is usually greater than private traffic between April and October (roughly speaking), but the gap is closing.
Carál Ní Chuilín, NI’s [SF] waterways minister, said the other day:
Waterways Ireland delivered a presentation to Ministers entitled ‘Ireland’s Inland Waterways — Building a Tourism Destination’. The presentation provided an overview of the progress that Waterways Ireland is making in placing waterways and the waterway experience at the centre of the tourism offering in Ireland and internationally.
And a good thing too, but the waterways need new water-based tourism products to complement, and perhaps to replace some of, the hire-boat cruising business. Opening new waterways — Royal Canal, Longford Branch, Ulster Canal, Kilbeggan Branch or anything else — is a waste of money until demand, domestic and visitor, private and hired, exceeds existing capacity.
Posted in Built heritage, Canals, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Scenery, Shannon, Sources, Tourism, Ulster Canal, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management, Weather
Tagged barge, Barrow, boat hire, boats, bridge, canal, Clones, cruiser, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, Erne, Grand Canal, hire boat, IBRA, Ireland, lock, Operations, Portumna, private boat, product, Royal Canal, Shannon, tourism, traffic, Ulster Canal, vessels, waterways, Waterways Ireland
The government’s new election manifesto construction strategy has just been published and can be downloaded here. I wouldn’t bother, though: there’s nothing in it about the Clones Sheugh and it’s written in the sort of turgid prose that won’t fry your brain: it will instead submerge your brain in a slurry pit and hold it under, providing a slow, choking, unpleasant death.
Anyway, the doughty Rob Kitchin has waded through it on our behalf and gives his conclusions here. I don’t share his enthusiasm for National Spatial Strategies and National Development Plans, but I have some sympathy for him when he says
I would have preferred something a bit more holistic, rather than trying to frame a whole bunch of stuff as a coordinated plan.
Michael Hennigan uses the B word.
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Canals, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Safety, Shannon, Sources, Ulster Canal, waterways, Weather
Tagged canal, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, floods, flow, Ireland, Operations, Shannon, Ulster Canal, water level, waterways
Waterways Ireland’s annual report for 2012 has now been published and is available for download here [PDF].
The English-language version begins on page 77 of 144; the earlier pages are devoted to an Irish-language version, that tongue being widely used in Belfast North.
The Ulster Scots Foreword gets in twice, but Dawn Livingstone is described as Chief Executive and not, alas, as Heid Fector. In a blow for parity of esteem, only the Foreword has been translated into the Hamely Tongue. And we continue to find “Waterways Ireland” translated as “Watterweys Airlann” in WI’s logo but as “Watterwyes Airlan” in the text. No wonder the shinners are running rings around the unionists [although I see that David Cameron intends to fix that].
Now I must read the report to see if I can spot why its publication was so long delayed, but we must welcome the success of the peace process that has reconciled the NI Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure with the roI Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
I suppose there’s be no chance of the 2013 report being published soon …?
Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Sources, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged dahg, dcal, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, department of culture arts and leisure, Ireland, Operations, peace process, Ulster Scots, waterways, Waterways Ireland
Irish waterways history 