By Barry Coughlan
Cross border tourism cooperation has been quite a thing on the island of Ireland for some time, but the Irish and the Welsh are taking joint ventures to a different level with the launch of the Celtic spirit through experiences across Wales and Ireland that will provide for a unique experience in the sector.
This venture goes cross-Irish sea with the official launch of a new tourism heritage project known as the Celtic Routes from a group of Welsh and Irish counties who formed a partnership in 2018 to plan and deliver this exciting Celtic Experience Collection.
The Collection is a compendium of unique, bookable experiences that will help those visiting the six counties of the Celtic Routes in West Wales and Ireland’s Ancient East to get closer to the Celtic spirit and to understand and celebrate the places and people they are visiting.
The experiences included in the Celtic Experience Collection, located across Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion, Wicklow, Wexford and Waterford, have been specifically curated to help bring Celtic culture, spirit and soul to new audiences, and have been themed by items of special interest.
Emphasis will be on Arts and Crafts – pottery classes and beautiful local ceramics, seaside galleries, woodworking using traditional methods, and the homes of Waterford Crystal and Melin Tregwynt’s classic Welsh woollen blankets.
Heritage will be key to the experience – tourists can enjoy a virtual reality tour of an ancient Irish castle, and join the ongoing excavation of a 12th Century Cistercian Abbey in the heartlands of Ceredigion.
Camino Way move over – guided pilgrimage walks along the Cistercian Way, Celtic Way and St Declan’s Way are among a number of other spiritual routes inspired by Celtic Christianity.
As Irish and Welsh Tourism has developed and evolved by offering new products, Wellness and Mindfulness has become hugely popular amongst all age groups – this new joint venture offers SUP yoga overlooking Cardigan Bay, cliff top yoga at Dunmore East and mindfulness sessions both on and off the water.
The respective coastlines have been known for rugged beauty over the centuries and it’s where Nature and Wildlife can be celebrated – coastal foraging ahead of a beach bonfire dinner, walking with alpacas, private and group flying experiences with spectacular birds of prey, and boat trips to witness seals, whales, dolphins and more.
Both Ireland and Wales have found further joint ventures in watersports – kayaking in sea caves and along rural rivers, coastal canyoning, SUP and surfing along the waterways and coastlines of West Wales and Eastern Ireland.
If you’d rather spend your day on a hiking trail, on two wheels, or on the golf course, the Celtic Routes boasts some of the best walking and cycling routes and golf courses in the world.
The Celtic Experience Collection has its own dedicated section on the Celtic Routes website and currently features 78 experiences designed to appeal to a broad spectrum of visitors, from stargazers to adrenaline junkies.
Several of these experiences are completely new, whilst others may only be marketed on a local level and not easily available to potential visitors when they are planning their trip.
The listings on the Celtic Routes website can be searched by location either in Wales or Ireland, by county, or by the type of experience which can be identified by searching using thematic filters.
Speaking about the launch of the Celtic Experience Collection, Oonagh Messette, Celtic Routes Project Officer at Wexford County Council said: “When the Celtic Routes project was established it was our intention to showcase the ancient and primal relationship between West Wales and Ireland’s Ancient East to new eyes and ears and to encourage new visitors to these very special places.
“With the launch of the new Celtic Experience Collection we intend to develop this ambition still further. To achieve this we have been working with representatives from tourism businesses across all of the communities of the Celtic Routes to improve the depth of our offerings through a series of experiences we hope visitors will utilize to create travel itineraries that speak to their own interests and curiosities.”