An attraction of scale

Failte Ireland has launched a new five year plan for tourism in Waterford. Among the projects outlined is a proposed “attraction of scale” on the north quays as a transformational tourism project for the south east. 

Fair enough. We should always try to do better and Waterford city is light on tourist numbers anyway. 

Tourism income allows places to have retail, hotel and other facilities that they would otherwise be unable to support. It is not easy though to graft on something to a place to make it a tourist destination. Waterford people will remember the ill-fated Celt World in Tramore which Bord Failte built to try and stimulate the tourist business in that town. The venture failed because you saw it once and that was that. In retrospect, Tramore has become a populous dormitory suburb of Waterford city and other than being a day trip destination for ourselves, it hardly figures on the tourist map. It is still a beautiful and attractive place, but the days of sandy sandwiches on windy beaches have long passed for Irish holiday makers.

Irish tourism is largely based in Dublin which is a vibrant capital city. The Wild Atlantic Way from Donegal to west Cork is an enormous success with the Cliffs of Moher being the central attraction. Kerry and Killarney are synonymous with Irish tourism since the 18th century. 

In central Ireland, tourism destinations are few and far between, Cashel springs to mind. Kilkenny has been a late arrival on the tourism scene anchored by a fine castle. Kilkenny without the castle would be Clonmel, a nice town, without any tourism? Wexford for instance thrives on Dublin based visitors but has magnified its international reputation through its renowned opera festival. The late Nicky Fewer once said that the farming sit com 'The Riordans', set in Co Kilkenny and aired on RTÉ TV every Sunday evening from Jan 1965 to May 1979, was the key PR ingredient in promoting that area. Few could disagree with that analysis. Belfast has developed a real tourism product based on the tragic Titanic story linked to the construction of that iconic vessel in its shipyards. Without that connection it would be hard to see what Belfast might attract although there is a market for so called 'conflict tourism'.

Internationally, Bilbao has transformed itself successfully from an industrial port city with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. This museum of modern and contemporary art is affiliated to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and features permanent and visiting exhibits by Spanish and international artists. Few remember that Barcelona also worked the same miracle but the huge attractions of that wonderful city, now over-touristed, were always likely to shine through. The USA port city of Baltimore has spent a fortune on trying to revive its beautiful central port area with only limited success. So it’s not just a matter of build it and they will come, rather it’s a case of build the right thing and they might come if its perceived to be sexy! Success is not guaranteed. 

For decades, Waterford city fooled itself that bus based visitors to Waterford Glass was tourism. The hotel figures were impressive, but the impact on the city was minuscule. Some suggest that this was because local business did not buy into the idea of tourism and did not believe in Waterford city as possible a tourist destination. That attitude, albeit declining, persists. Who will come to Waterford city to see for example, the remains of a 1970s petrol filling station on the Quay, or the ruins of Power Seeds on the Dunmore Road?

In the past 30 years some enormous strides have been made in Waterford. The removal of the portal sheds along the quays showed us the possibilities of a quay side space, although a sea of parked cars attracts no one. The real success of the past 30 years has been the Viking Triangle. Without its development of the museum quarter,, based on the real history of the city, what would we offer visitors? The Greenway has been a great success and Mount Congreve will fulfil its potential in time. In fairness, our council has tried through pedestrianisation and high quality urban spaces to really turn the city around. A chronic lack of investment resulting in dereliction in New Street, Stephen Street, Back Lane etc has not helped. Rather than seeking a, say €100m magic bullet facility to attract tourists, some suggest the money should be spent on properly refurbishing the fabric of the historic city through removal of overhead wires, proper paving and street surfaces and a dynamic programme of sensitive infill. 

The latter goes on spasmodically but the impact of a row of empty shops near Regional’s Tower or large houses in Lady Lane and elsewhere awaiting work commencement, is counterproductive. Council hopes the North quays will transform the city, with the new pedestrian bridge being installed this summer. Council officials say it won’t open to the public until 2026 when some section of the private development project might be developed. This sequential thinking is completely destructive. Everyone in Waterford will want to walk across the new bridge when it is installed to see what the city looks like from the middle of the river. People will come from across the region and beyond, to see it. The footfall opportunity cannot be missed.

Anyway, my attraction of scale requires the ugly ESB pylons to be removed from Mount Misery and Bilberry Rock and the relocation of the ESB 110 KV station in Gracedieu to outside the city. The visual improvement alone would be enormous. A cliff top park also accessible by a cliff stairs from the Greenway at Bilberry could be developed in Gracedieu, with a cable car across the river to the Golf Club, thence to its 18th tee (a tremendous viewing point) and a revolving restaurant and viewing platform above the Ardree site and from there down to the North Quays. It’s a proposed series of cable car loops unequalled in Ireland and based entirely on the unique topography of the city and how the River Suir divides it. It could be a winner. In any event, let’s think big!