The tourism season peaked in the first two weeks of August in the 1950s and was concentrated on traditional seaside resorts, as this report from 1957 indicates; it also catalogues the main complaints of holidaymakers at the time. – JOE JOYCE
THE FIRST fortnight in August is the peak period of the tourist season, and while it is too soon to say whether a new peak has been established in the two weeks just ended, the feeling among hotel owners appears to be that bookings have been at least as good as, if not better than, in the corresponding period last year.
Generally speaking, officials of Bord Fáilte say booking in the main holiday resorts has been as good as any year. Many resorts have been booked out for the past fortnight, and it is possible there may be a record.
The western seaboard generally, it was stated, has had an almost record two weeks, and Bord Fáilte said bookings for the fortnight in some places: – Killarney – booked out; Tramore – very heavily booked; Donegal – good; Salthill – heavily booked; Achill – booked out; Arran (sic) – good; Galway – very good; the races this year attracting more visitors than last year.
British Railways said that they have had an exceptionally busy fortnight . Boats with maximum numbers of passengers have been continually coming and going. From July 28th until August 9th, Aer Lingus carried a total of 38,500 passengers to and from Dublin, compared with 40,000 passengers in the same period last year.
The grouse, duck and geese shooting season has just opened, and many visitors to Ireland have taken to the hills and valleys with their hunting guns. Bord Fáilte has been organising vermin control, and, when this has been brought under control, the board hopes to begin a game propagation scheme. Both the country’s game and fishing facilities are attracting increasing numbers of tourists each year.
Many of the visitors, however, who have come just to tour the country and see the scenery, while delighted with their visit, are known to have at least a couple of grouses. One of these is with Bord Fáilte’s sign-posting. Some said that in travelling from Dublin to the West they had experienced trouble in finding their way, and only succeeded in reaching their destination by the use of maps and the directions of local people. Motorists are finding that in places too many signs are confusing them, and think that when Bord Fáilte initiated its extensive signposting scheme it should have made a completely fresh start, and cleared away all existing signs.
They said also that other places could do with a few more signs. Some signs bear only the name of the next village and if such signs mentioned the nearest town as well, it would be a great help.
The other grouse of the tourists can be laid at the door of the county councils, or local farmers. It is that the country’s hedges should be cut, at least low enough to enable motorists to see the countryside.
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