Visitors Do Love the Mournes – but much potential remains untapped.
This year Mourne Heritage Trust undertook a summer survey to ask visitors what they thought of the Mournes and this generated some interesting results. The survey, which was funded by the Natural Resource Rural Tourism Initiative, aimed to find out what facilities visitors use within the Mourne and Slieve Croob Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and what they think of the area once they are here.
In total 1,286 surveys were completed at 14 different locations within the AONB. Of the people surveyed the results showed that three quarters were from the province, with international visitors accounting for only 7%. The remainder come from the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain. The main reason that people visited the area was for day trips (55%) or holiday (37%). Not surprisingly due to the large percentage of visitors from other parts of Northern Ireland the majority (63%) of those surveyed stated that they would be staying within the AONB for one day or less.
The most popular places for people to visit within the area are Newcastle town, Warrenpoint, Tollymore Forest Park and the Silent Valley. The most popular activities correspondingly were visiting the town, hill walking, visiting bars and restaurants and swimming. Unfortunately the average spend by visitors surveyed is quite low with 58% spending less than £30 during the course of their visit.
When asked whether they were satisfied with the area 100% of those surveyed stated that they were either very satisfied or quite satisfied with the scenery on offer, 96% were satisfied with public access to the countryside and 93% were satisfied with the condition of the natural environment. High rates of satisfaction were also seen for car parking, and value for money.
When asked if they would return to the Mournes, 71% stated they would definitely return within the next year and 21% said they were very likely or quite likely to come back.
Mr Tony Gates, Chief Executive, said ‘ This information is for the Trust and anyone involved in providing recreational or tourist services within the Mourne and Slieve Croon area. It gives us an insight into the reasons why visitors come to the Mournes, what facilities they want to access and what they think of the area. The visitor satisfaction rates are re-assuring, however, the results point to areas of real potential both in increasing the number of visitors from outside Northern Ireland and increasing the amount that visitors spend. The designation of the Mourne and Slieve Croob area as a National Park could help improve this.’
‘The Trust will be trying to ensure that, through the development of recreational and tourism infrastructure, we provide additional means for the local community to achieve an economic benefit from visitors increasing the average spend above the £30 limit currently seen. A key future challenge will be to make sure that the area is adequately marketed on an international stage, in order to attract greater a proportion of overnight stays’.
The Trust will be circulating the results of the survey to a wide range of groups and individuals in order to help inform the development of tourism and recreation within the area. Further surveys in 2005 and 2006 will provide a fuller picture on how visitor opinions change over the next two years.
For further information on this survey contact:
Matthew Bushby
Countryside Services Manager
Mourne Heritage Trust
87 Central Promenade
Newcastle
Co Down
BT33 0HH
Tel: 02843 724059
Email: mht@mourne.co.uk