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Displaying items by tag: Fermanagh Lakelands

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council has established a new tourism partnership which will work to enhance and strengthen local tourism through the delivery of the Visitor Experience Development Plan (VEDP) for Fermanagh Lakelands, Omagh and the Sperrins.

The partnership met in Enniskillen for the first time last Tuesday 21 March to commit to realising the ambition set out within the VEDP for a regenerative, year-round tourism destination.

It includes members from Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, Tourism NI, Waterways Ireland, Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland, DAERA, Cuilcagh Lakelands Geopark, Department for Communities, Fermanagh Lakeland Tourism, Loughs Agency, National Trust, South West College, Sperrins Partnership Project, National Museums NI and Invest NI.

The inaugural meeting of the VEDP Delivery Partnership is a key milestone in the delivery of the development plan and, alongside the core membership, the partnership is working on plans to establish inclusive industry and community engagement models.

The VEDP is a 10-year destination roadmap that will focus on regenerative tourism, delivering authentic visitor experiences, while benefitting local communities, businesses and the environment.

Funded and developed by Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, Tourism NI and Waterways Ireland, the VEDP will create greater alignment locally across the tourism sector through stronger collaboration from key delivery organisations and a more joined-up approach to tourism development.

Councillor Barry McElduff, chair of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council said: “The Fermanagh Lakelands and Omagh and the Sperrins is a truly beautiful part of the world in which to live, work and visit. We are keen to share this with visitors locally, nationally, and internationally.

“A key part of the vision set out in the VEDP is that our visitors become temporary locals when they are here. Through delivery of memorable moments, we will inspire our visitors to share their experience and encourage them to return.”

Published in Aquatic Tourism

Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.