The development of tourist traffic in Ireland is one of
the happiest outcomes of the subsidence of political agitation. Within the last few years, as a correspondent in Tuesday's Times points out, the difficulties of the situation have been faced and overcome. Ireland has been rendered more accessible, internal facilities of intercommunication have been multiplied, good hotels have sprung up all over the country, and last, but not least, a number of excellent golf courses have been opened. Twenty years ago, or even less, the tourist's knowledge of Ireland was limited to Killarney, Connemara, and the Giants' Causeway. These famous resorts no longer enjoy a monopoly of attention, thanks to the new railways, coaching routes, and hotels which have rendered the beauties of Donegal, Sligo, Clare, and Kerry more accessible or more attractive to the tourist and sports- man. Already the outlying districts of Ireland are half a day, in some cases a whole day, nearer England than they were twenty years ago, and with this greater proximity the possi- bilities of misunderstanding are immensely reduced. The value of the Irish Tourist Development Association as a consolidating Imperial influence cannot easily be over- estimated.
Previous page
