On Thursday Fáilte Ireland hosted a Community Walking Trails Networking Workshop in the County Arms Hotel, Co. Offaly. Local tourism businesses and members of the local community in the Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands region were invited to learn more about community walking trails and walking festivals and how they can enhance the visitor experience of a destination. This follows the launch of Fáilte Ireland’s Walking Festivals & Events toolkit which provides local communities with a guide on how to organise sustainable walking events and festivals that will highlight the area’s unique outdoor offering and attract potential visitors. The guide can be downloaded at www.failteireland.ie/
Speaking at the Community Walking Trails Networking Workshop, Head of Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands at Fáilte Ireland, Paddy Mathews said:
“One of Failte Ireland’s key objectives is to develop sustainable community tourism activities in the outdoors and there’s no better way to showcase our fantastic natural assets in Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands than a walking festival. It’s crucial that festivals and events like this are environmentally sustainable and economically viable especially for the communities who organise them which is why Fáilte Ireland has launched a Walking Festival & Events toolkit. This toolkit offers guidelines that will help local communities get their ideas off the ground and create a high quality visitor experience. There are a number of great walking festivals already taking place in the Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands region, and we expect to see more coming on stream this year.”
