Ditch the shamrock, call in the whales

With the drop in visitors to rural areas, it's time to wake up to the wealth of ecotourism waiting to be tapped, writes Kate Holmquist.

Ecotourism and nature appreciation is the fastest growing niche in international travel, increasing by up to 30 per cent a year. A small but growing movement in rural Ireland is trying to change the country's image from one of leprechauns and shamrocks to green tour operators and organic vegetables in an attempt to draw the high-spending ecotourist.

From dolphin- and whale-watching to exploring forests, the potential range of experiences that Ireland can offer both domestic and international nature-lovers is rich and varied.

"Tourists are turning their back on rural Ireland, with half of them never setting foot outside Dublin," says Alan Hill, director of the Western Development Commission, which has committed more than €3 million to developing ecotourism. "Ireland can no longer sell itself as a green, clean destination. Ireland has got a product that needs to be re-branded. It has to fundamentally reposition itself in the global marketplace.

"Ecotourism is the direction that Irish tourism needs to go in if we're going to create a sustainable industry," argues Hill. "This will require product development and integrated planning across Government departments on a scale that we have never seen the likes of before. It will take a generation but if we don't do that now, Irish tourism will stagnate and will be regarded as a bit of an anachronism."

Inquiries to Fáilte Ireland about ecotourism were met with mystification - "Do you mean naturists?" Naked camping and sunbathing aside, there's no policy concerning ecotourism and no central source of information for travellers seeking this sort of holiday.

When you seek out "ecotourism" and "nature" in relation to Irish tourism on the web, you come up with a few individual providers, but not the comprehensive website you might expect for such a growth area. It's a matter of spending hours on research, ringing numbers and following up leads by word-of-mouth, but that's difficult for the time-poor Irish and international tourist.

Ireland isn't so green, the Nature Woodlands Trust is keen to point out. Ireland protects less of its national territory than any country in the EU (1 per cent compared with an average of 12 per cent) and only 0.1 per cent of our native woodland remains. In Northern Ireland, the Audit Office has criticised the Environment and Heritage Service for failing to protect some special wildlife sites from damage and destruction.

When National Geographic did a survey of ecotourism destinations, the only European country to make it to the top 20 was Scotland. Europe has been slow to understand the cravings of ecotourists for back-to-nature simplicity.

"There's a mindset in Ireland that has developed Dublin into a sophisticated, money-generating machine, from the carriers to the accommodation providers, and rural Ireland - with the exception of Cork and Kerry - is picking up the crumbs," says Hill.

The west of Ireland has seen its tourism market wither over the past year.

"In a typical summer, we usually have about 20 departures to Inishturk. This year we're planning 15 departures," says Brian Hewghes of Walking Connemara, a company that organises walking holidays on the islands. The essence of responsible ecotourism is that it helps fund conservation and leaves no footprint behind. More international tourists want to travel in ways that support this ethos.

The fall-off in visitors is a big blow to Inishturk, which relies on summer tourism for survival. Walking Connemara usually provides 70 per cent of the island's overnight paying guests.

Hewghes's company brings sophisticated, high-spending Irish, Americans and Europeans on five-day walking tours led by an archaeologist, Gerry McCloskey, that start in a four-star hotel in Clifden, Co Galway (the Abbeyglen), take in Killary Harbour then island-hop across Inishboffin, Inishshark, Inishturk and Clare Island. The participants have champagne picnics every day and stay in island guesthouses, where they eat freshly caught fish and locally grown produce, with the opportunity of meeting locals and experiencing a way of life that remains from early in the last century.

Alan Hill believes that rather than turning its back on the west, Irish tourism should do more to capitalise on the potential of ecotourism there. The Western Development Tourism Programme aims to turn an area of Ireland, North and South, into an internationally recognised ecotourism destination. Called "the Green Box", the area encompasses counties Fermanagh and Leitrim, as well as west Cavan, north Sligo and southern Donegal. Hill says the area can offer "the best walking in Europe", organic foods, "green" accommodation, a network of artists and craftsmen and women, social and cultural attractions and water activities on the Shannon/Erne system.

The way Hill sees it, when Gunther in Frankfurt is browsing the internet for his next eco-holiday, he will be attracted to a nearby European destination such as Ireland because he is concerned (and feeling a little guilty) about the carbon emissions caused by long-haul flights. He may think of Ireland as chilly and wet, but soon discovers it offers value for money as well as the responsible, green holiday he is looking for.

The small, intimate B&B will welcome him as a friend, he'll sleep between cotton sheets, have organic eggs for breakfast that were laid on the farm three fields away, eat locally-baked bread spread with butter. He'll see the recycling ethos in evidence everywhere he goes.When he hires a bicycle (driving isn't eco-friendly), he'll be able to hire it in village A and leave it in village B, so he doesn't have to retrace his route.

Along the way, he'll eat in green restaurants with menus based on responsible food production, meet "green" craftsmen and women and his wanderings will be "interpreted" for him by a personal guide who will tell him that the wild bird he is looking at has flown all the way from Greenland that very week as opposed to coming from London on a hen night.

The Department of Environment envisages three other "green" tourism areas - Inishowen, the south Shannon area (south Co Roscommon and Clare) and the Aran Islands.

This approach is ecotourism in its purest form - the opposite of tour buses, big hotels with resource-gobbling indoor swimming pools, health centres offering beauty treatments, shopping malls and souvenirs made in China. On one level it is a "rebranding" of Ireland as a product, but the local benefits would be to attract more Irish people to leave cities and experience a unique quality of life in the "Green Box" area. Otherwise, Hill warns, the region will become a "desert".

Counties Cork and Kerry are the biggest rural attractions increasingly drawing in visitors who would rather walk than drive. Claire Galvin of Celtic Nature Expeditions in Cooleen, Dingle, Co Kerry, is spending this summer guiding walkers from Australia, the US, Canada and Europe along a 100-mile Dingle Way and Kerry Way. Walkers want Irish guides with local knowledge who can tell stories, share history as well as educating about wildlife.

"People have always come to Co Kerry for the stunning beauty of the landscape, but there is also a growing awareness of the importance of the ecology," she says.

If you want your region to attract tourists, you need the "hook" of an interesting mammal or bird, says Derek Mooney, naturalist and presenter of Wildlife on One on RTÉ Radio 1. Glenveagh National Park in Co Donegal has golden eagles, which he reckons would attract far more people if there was a feeding station. Dingle, Co Kerry has Fungi the dolphin and last summer, the Shannon Estuary attracted 20,000 visitors on boat trips to see its dolphins, which are being monitored and protected with the help of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG).

Dr Simon Berrow of IWDG believes there is great potential to turn the Irish coast from Co Donegal, down the south west and up to Waterford into a top-class international whale-watching destination. Once tourists come to see dolphins and whales they also spend money on many other leisure pursuits.

In 2003, whale-watchers, bird-watchers and those enjoying seaside nature reserves spent €12.3 million on day-trips and overnight stays in the area. However, Dr Berrow, who also runs the research and education centre at Kilrush, Co Clare, believes it could be far more if the industry is developed responsibly. Coordinated research and observation by licensed whale-watching boats around the coast would enable the IWDG to track whale movements, so that whale-watchers would know exactly where to go and when to find the communities of fin and humpback whales. Ireland ranks fourth in Europe, with 7 per cent of the whale-watching market, after the Canaries (57 per cent), Norway (11 per cent) and the UK (8 per cent).

Within striking distance of Dublin is the Lullymore Heritage and Discovery Park in Co Kildare, where more than 60 varieties of plants, insects, birds, mammals and amphibians can be seen in the nearby Bog of Allen.

Ecotourism is one of the goals of the Kildare Leader Company (Kelt), which supported the Irish Peatland Conservation Council in its relocation to Lullymore. Kelt also funded the development of accommodation on local farms, to bring visitors closer to the land.

Such local efforts increase awareness that nature is not to be taken for granted if we want to attract ecotourists.