.jpg)
Donegal
Tourism Ltd in association with Donegal County Council recently launched
an initiative to help make ‘Donegal
the Greenest County in Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day 2015’ and have been
encouraging the trade in Donegal to get involved in the greening of their local
area. Whether it is the greening of an attraction, business premises, local
beauty spot or church, all sorts of locations will be turned green this coming
weekend!
Communities
and businesses in Donegal have embraced the Wild Atlantic Way initiative from Fáilte Ireland and understand the
potential benefits of showcasing County Donegal to the world and attracting
visitors to this beautiful world class tourism destination. Greening of Donegal
for St. Patrick’s Day is an excellent way to kick start the season and offers
an excellent opportunity to show that Donegal is very much
connected and that communities are ready and waiting to welcome visitors.
.jpg) |
| Old Church Visitor Centre An Grianan |
Already
confirmation has been received from a wide variety of locations across Donegal
that they will be greening local attractions, businesses and other sites. The
Old Church Visitor Centre and An Grianan Hotel are green, plans are underway to
green Banba’s Crown at Malin Head, in Bundoran the Tourist Office, Kicking
Donkey and lots of other locations will go green, the Radisson Hotel in
Letterkenny, the Castle in Donegal and Magees Shop will go green. These are but
examples of the many locations going green this weekend and full lists will be
available in the coming days.
Mr. Seamus Neely, Chief Executive of
Donegal County Council and Chairman of Donegal Tourism has been delighted with
the response to the greening initiative 2015 saying that “interest in greening
this year has been huge and local communities and businesses have really come
together to work as teams to organise lighting, green gels and bulbs,
generators and everything needed to go green. We are very proud of the effort
that has gone into this initiative and look forward to seeing our ‘green’
county promoted extensively in the coming days, well done to everyone
concerned”.
A plan is in place to promote the greening through a variety of Donegal Tourism
Ltd and Donegal County Council websites, social channels and e-mail marketing
campaigns. Groups and individuals that have organised the ‘greening’ of any
location are asked to e-mail photos and details to greeningdonegal@gmail.com From there they will be circulated online. Local
people and visitors are encouraged to take photos of greened locations and post
them online using the hashtag #greeningdonegal
Greenings
mean so much more than just the vast amount of worldwide publicity they receive,
in particular via the web. Greenings are a symbol of the warm welcome that people from Donegal
extend to the Diaspora and indeed to the world. Greening Donegal in line with
other countries around the world showcases
that County Donegal is open for business and extend a hand in friendship
and respect to visitors.
 |
| Bundoran Tourist Office |
You may have seen other famous buildings, landmarks and world heritage sites go
green around the world such as the Taj Mahal in India, the Moulin Rouge in
Paris and the Pyramids of Egypt to name but a few, all of which receive extensive media coverage online
and offline to promote Ireland as a world class tourism destination. This year Donegal will be put firmly on the map when
it comes to St. Patrick’s Day Greening thanks to this initiative! The benefits
of which are far reaching and will positively impact on visitor numbers in the
future.
Check out all of the greening Donegal locations on this new map from Donegal County Council then visit the locations, take some photos and share using #greeningdonegal and #GoGreen4PatricksDay.
