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DoChara's Ireland Blog
Random Writings about Ireland and the Irish
Tuesday
January 10 2006
I'm no friend to Kerry, apparently
The results of our survey, the Best and Worst of Ireland, have caused quite a stir. This week I have spoken about it on several local radio stations and answered queries from a number of local newspapers, but nowhere has the interest been more keen than in Kerry.
The survey was the subject of the editorial in this weeks Kerryman newspaper (free registration required), and they seem to be unable to understand how a place can appear on both the list of favourite places in Ireland and the list of least enjoyed places, specifically how the Ring of Kerry came to be the place that survey repondents liked best and at the same time appeared on the list of places they didn't like.
I would have thought that was obvious. People have different opinions. You love a place, I hate it. No mystery there.
I have traversed the Ring of Kerry many times and have loved it on some occasions and wished I was somewhere else on others. It's quite a different experience on a sunny day in late April than it is on a wet morning in August sitting behind a long line of tour buses. But I am not a typical visitor, most have only one chance to see a place and they form their opinion from that single visit.
On the Ring of Kerry
The bit I liked best in the editorial was this:
"DoChara, which labels itself "Your Irish Friend", is no friend to Kerry".
I love that. Kerry has many friends and doesn't really need me (though I truely love the place). The one thing we never set out to be was one of those sites that suggests that everything in Ireland is nirvana - that it is the land of perfect hotels and B&Bs all offering exceptional value, that every visitor centre and every attraction is an unmissable gem and that everywhere you go there are quiet roads winding through peaceful and unspoiled countryside.
It just ain't so and if we were not ruffling the feathers of someone along the way we just wouldn't be doing the job we set out to do - that of being an advocate for the visitor rather than the visited.
Comments on "I'm no friend to Kerry, apparently"
Posted by: gail
13 Jan 2006
I read the Kerryman newspaper editorial and, quite frankly, am amazed at their reaction. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why a place can make both the Best and the Worst list. The Ring of Kerry came out number one in the top favorite places in Ireland. It was sixth in the least enjoyed places to visit list. Oh, horrors!
The editorial says:
"Surveys like these have the potential to damage a fickle tourism industry worth millions of euro to local economies.
For the uninformed visitor in the United States or in Europe, sites like these provide them with information that could clinch their decision to come to Kerry or go somewhere else."
Well there it is, the crux of all the groaning. It's about money, it's always about money. Maybe instead of moaning out loud the folks from Kerry should look within for answers to why someone would not enjoy the place. Then maybe, just maybe, they could do something to fix it.
I've traveled the Ring of Kerry and it is a wondrous place to behold. The time I went the weather was perfect, the pace leisurely and we only encountered one or two tour buses along the entire route. If I had to sit behind a long line of tour buses or, worse, be packed into a tour bus peeking out a little window, the Ring would hold absolutely no attraction.
It's a pity the editorial attacked DoChara personally. They obviously didn't take time to look around your site, which contains a wealth of well-written, forthright information that woos someone like me back to Ireland.
Perhaps one of the mistakes some of us visitors make when we come to Ireland is that we have a dream-like notion that every person and place in the Emerald Isle is perfect and wonderful. The editors of the Kerryman newspaper certainly highlight this misconception.
Thank you DoChara. Keep up the excellent work.
Posted by: Irish Tourist
13 Jan 2006
I do not know if anything can be done about high prices, the narrow/twisting roads, the heavy traffic, the small hotel rooms or hard to find laundrettes in Ireland.
I do know that if I were an Irish tourism or public official right now I would be out fixing the road sings, cleaning up the litter (and encouraging locals to do the same), posing realistic restrictions on the amount of development in scenic areas as well as seeing that the Gardaí get as many drunks of the streets at night a possible.
Posted by: Ger Horgan
14 Jan 2006
I think the survey was very imformative especially about the Temple Bar and Killarney.
Posted by: Patrick
20 Jan 2006
On a two week viist to Ireland a couple years back my wife and I skipped the Ring of Kerry on purpose primarily from the published accounts of traffic, etc. Instead we did a 'ring' about Dingle and very much enjoyed the time there.
We hail from Colorado just on the shoulders of the Rocky Mountains and very, very, very much enjoyed our tour of Ireland. I drove the whole way around - into Shannon, then Galway, then over to Dublin, down to Wexford, then Kinsale, then the Dingle days and back to Shannon for the ride home. 1300 car miles and all of them wonderful (including the first day facing down a bus on the narrow tracks in the Burren).
Thanks for creating the survey and I agree totally with the #1 Best Thing. And no, we haven't a thing bad to say about Ireland.
Posted by: Pergo
26 July 2006
I enjoyed reading about the survey and agree with ger horgan.
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