Thurles & Tipperary tourism cannot grow on County Councillors speeches alone, accommodation crisis and missed opportunities must now be owned.
Thurles Tourism Debate: Part II.
Concerns over Tipperary’s ability to sustain and grow tourism have intensified following a recent council presentation on tourism performance and marketing activity, a meeting where councillors again highlighted the county’s deepening shortage of visitor accommodation.
While elected members warned that a lack of “bed nights” is now actively preventing the county from hosting events, retaining tour groups and converting day-trippers into overnight stays, local stakeholders say the discussion risks becoming yet another exercise in acknowledging the obvious without confronting who is accountable for years of drift and under-delivery.
Thurles social media continuously sells “local life” as if it were a tourism product and that is completely failing us. Thurles tourism messaging is too often confused about its real job.
A visitor does not fly to Ireland for a post from Thurles Tourist Office wishing them a “Happy Christmas”; “Happy New Year”; Inviting Nail Bar Appointments; Selling Clothing; Local Book Launches and other generic services that exist to be found in every backward town and village in Ireland.
Yes, local businesses matter, but when social tourism channels read like a community noticeboard, it dillutes the towns strongest selling points and waste the fleeting attention created by international coverage.
Right now, too much content promotes what exists here locally, rather than what a visitor would travel from North America, France & UK for. That is why tour coaches stop and then quickly go or totally avoid Thurles altogether. That is why day-trippers don’t become overnight stays and that is why international attention risks becoming little more than a headline.
What Thurles Must & Should Do Immediately.
Use the Lonely Planet moment, and immediately deliver Thurles Lions Club Signposting so Thurles stops being overlooked.
Tipperary has a rare opportunity in the fact that the county has been recognised in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2026 list, (a global “top 25” selection). Tourism Ireland says Tipperary is described as “best for hiking, history and fine food”, exactly the kind of international positioning counties spend years trying to win. But that attention must now be converted into overnight stays, and that requires practical, on-the-ground delivery, particularly for towns like Thurles.
So here is the uncomfortable truth; ‘Likes’ on Facebook are not bed nights. If our digital content does not answer the visitor’s basic questions, they stay on the motorway.
Thurles Lions Club have shown our town of Thurles the lead by securing €29,600 in LEADER funding for a Thurles Heritage Trail, including signage at strategic points around the town with QR codes linking visitors to digital storytelling.
Thurles has been crying out for this kind of hands-on, visitor-ready infrastructure for years. It should be treated as an emergency priority, not reduced to a cosy talking-point trotted out once a month for newspaper coverage, with scarcely a single progressive tourism voice in the room.
If Tipperary County Council is serious, this is precisely what it should be funding, promoting and delivering, with councillors and officials finally partnering with those who actually understand the tourism industry.
Currently if visitors attempt to visit the Thurles Tourism Site – Oops! That page can’t be found.
We will be speaking more about failures and solutions in the coming days, so do stay tuned.
See Thurles Tourism Debate: Part III.
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