What happens when you walk outside the Ring of Kerry? Who knows, because apparently tourists never leave the damn thing.
The Irish Examiner reports that the former mayor of Tralee has urged Kerry County Council to rebrand the Ring as he fears that tourists are not deviating from the route enough.
Ex-mayor and current Fine Gael councillor Jim Finucane claims that changing the Ring would add a “dimension” to the overall holiday experience if visitors “went slightly off track.” So basically, he wants tourists to get so lost they have to fork out money for a taxi and buy supplies such as food and water. Awesome tourism campaign, don’t you think?
Apparently rebranding the 180km Ring, which takes in places such as Kells, Waterville and Caherdaniel, will help promote “authentic aspects” of Kerry life and culture.
“Our visitors have changed, but some of our products have not evolved. We need a new marketing approach,” he said.
He also said that the modern tourist doesn’t need to be “shepherded.”
We can already picture the mass amounts of tourists being released from the confines of the Ring and back into the wild. You can just see them running off into the sunset, taking pictures and asking what it feels like to live in ‘eye-urrrr-LAND.’ Beautiful.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil councillor Norma Foley called for new signs to be put up at entry points to Kerry.
“We don’t let people know Kerry is the home of storytellers, dancers, musicians and writers. We have something no other country has,” she said.
Is it a massive invisible Ring that traps tourists?
We say demolish the Ring and let tourists run about the place willy-nilly. Instead of buying signs, invest in some kind of tourist-herder that’s like Bear Grylls. He’ll find any lost ones and teach the rest how to survive in the wilderness of Kerry – probably by eating cow poo and drinking their own wee – now THAT’s something that will add a dimension to the “holiday experience.”
Anyone fancy a trip to the Kingdom?
