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Heritage Tourism Opportunities for the River Suir
The potential of the thousands of miles of canals and rivers in Europe including the River Suir – which stretch across the Continent from the North Sea to the Black Sea and from the Mediterranean to the Baltic – is the subject of a series of Masterclasses being held in Dublin on 14-15 September 2011. They will focus on the multi-functional role of today’s waterways, in which they are focal points for tourism and the regeneration of urban and rural communities. Ways to increase visits to sites along waterways are central to the strategy. The focus will be on how re-using historic buildings can help sell the ‘living history’ story and how the attraction of iconic structures such as the (Ormonde and Cahir Castles) can be maximised. The importance of new media like websites and I-phones to tap in to the new generation of tourists is also a key area to cover. Recognising existing markets will be addressed through developing integrated tourist itineraries and promoting walking, boating and cycling packages along waterways.
Experts in the field of governance will help link good practices identified by the project’s partners from waterway organisations across Europe, assessing how these can be taken a stage further and incorporated into regional policies and linked to future funding schemes.
Environmental and climate change issues will addressed by experts, who will conclude which are the most important issues, which Waterways Forward will include in its policy recommendations.
The Masterclasses are an important milestone in the European Union Interreg IVC project Waterways Forward which addresses the challenges faced by regional waterways, particularly in terms of how they can be better managed and developed in the future.
Labhaoise McKenna, Heritage Officer, South Tipperary County Council, comments: “The Masterclasses are a key stage in our project. The work carried out so far to identify good practice in various areas of waterway management will be drawn together in order for us to home in on the important issues we’ll be pressing European funders and policy makers about. Maximising commercial income from leisure and tourism is vital to us and we expect the EU to take on board the recommendations that will be delivered through Waterways Forward.”
To book a place on the masterclasses please contact: Sabine Brown of Waterways IrelandWaterways Ireland Western Regional Office Dock Road, Drewsborough, Scarriff, Co. Clare Phone +353-(0)61-922141 Fax +353 (0)61-922147 Sabine.Browne@waterwaysireland.org
Waterways Forward is a project developed under the European Union Interreg IVC programme. Interreg IVC is an EU funding programme that helps regions to work together to share their knowledge and experience.
Waterways Forward brings together 17 partner organisations, including regional, local and national authorities, from 11 EU countries plus Norway and Serbia. South Tipperary County Council and Waterways Ireland are the Irish partners in the project. The Lead partner is Stichting Recreatietoervaart Nederland (Dutch Recreational Waterways Foundation, Netherlands). The value of the project is €2.8m and it runs for three years from 2010 to the end of 2012. It is a successor to the earlier Interreg IIIC project Voies Navigables d’Europe (VNE), which looked at ways to maximise the tourism and cultural heritage aspects of waterways.
The main objective of Waterways Forward is to improve the management of regional inland waterways and the regions adjacent to them by promoting an integrated, sustainable and participatory approach, taking account of the multi-functional role of waterways.
Additional info regarding Masterclasses: (
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