Enniskillen Tourism Office manager Charlotte Wilson, sharing local information to a visitor number of weeks
HARD to believe what a spell of good weather does.
In a matter of months, starting with the G8 summit in mid-June, the volume of visitors going through the Fermanagh Visitors Centre seeking guidance with their holiday plans has been averaging at 250 a day.
And, that’s not all. According to Charlotte Wilson, its manager, she and her staff deal with 60-70 daily telephone enquiries, some of them not tourist-related.
For instance, queries have ranged from: ‘do you know what hours the skip is open at Maguiresbridge?’ to (this from a film producer), ‘I’m looking for a slow-flowing stream, similar to the portrait of, ‘Ophelia’ by Millais’.
But, no one goes away frustrated: “We always send them away with the information they want and, if we don’t know the answer, we try to find out.”
At the more tourist end, Charlotte rated this summer as, ‘one of the busiest in a long time’.
And, last week, a visit to the centre instantly showed how her staff of four and the caretaker/cleaner, Lilias were flat out, doing their best to promote Fermanagh.
A quick glance of the Visitors’ Book gives an extent of the callers, from South Korea to Boston, from Germany to the UK, and all across Ireland.
Jenny Adams, from Crumlin was down in Fermanagh with her family, staying in a caravan at Drumhoney near Castle Archdale where they normally spend the week.
She was about to head off for the Marble Arch Caves when we caught up with her.
“It’s very good. We stay 4-5 days, and venture out. For instance, this week we went to Belleek and we’re now going to try the Caves. We have been there before, but that was probably 10 years ago.”
Jenny rated the (good) weather as, ‘very important’, and, also, the staff in the Tourist Information Centre whom she found, ‘very helpful’.
That was music to Charlotte Wilson’s ears for, unlike most other council facilities, the TIC is open seven days a week, including bank holidays, and, in the run-up to and during the G8, it acted as the Townhall’s emergency call centre.
“In fact, since the G8, it does seem to have been very busy and it goes without saying we have been very proud and delighted to provide that emergency service.”
Traditionally, the tourist season ends at the end of September, but, with so many events on across the county, Charlotte and her staff are braced for an extension and, anyway, they are open all year round.
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