The Tubberfeck Area Tourism Agency (TaTa) is spending €600 on a major new advertising campaign to encourage Sligovians to stay put for their hols this year.
Dubbed “Plenty to See Here”, the poster and print campaign is TaTa’s biggest marketing push in recent years, and will debut with several full page ads running in the likes of regional newspapers such as The Connacht Connection and The Sligo Skinflint before a broader release to a selection of Bus Éireann shelters, sign posts, and the bulletin boards usually found near the jacks of various local establishments.
The campaign showcases several locations in and about Tubberfeck with alluring posters that show off the local amenities to would-be staycationers, notes Mrs. Vivian Fanning, interim chairwoman of TaTa and proprietress of the Bayview Bed & Breakfast, one of Tubberfeck’s prime destinations for local holidaymakers.
“The campaign is targeted at those seeking some exoticism and adventure,” says Mrs. Fanning. “But without the expense and fuss of flying off somewhere that is actually exotic and adventuresome.”
According to Fáilte Ireland, the country’s tourism agency, domestic travel is a €2.4 billion industry, with much of the revenue from staycations pouring into rural communities, many of which are better equipped than metropolitan areas to provide actual relaxation. “Unless you’re getting dragged out on some embarrassing hen party, Dublin has nothing exciting to offer,” Mrs. Fanning declares, “So we deserve a piece of that travel action here in the West. We’ve so much more to offer.”
The colourful prints are the work of local graphic design student, Jazmin Moriarty. The Tattler caught up with Jazmin’s proud mother, our own d’Shtyle editor, June Marie Moriarty, for her take.
“Naturally, I’m thrilled,” she says. “After sweeping her leaving certs, our Jaz entered the Visual Arts & Design program at Trinners – for the muckers, that’s ‘Trinity College Dublin’ – where she’s absolutely thriving. My Jaz will put this place on the map. She always stood out among the culchie birds in her year group, and not just on account of her being a proud lesbian.”
So how does a destination as rudimentary and gray as Tubberfeck attract tourists looking for excitement? Just take a look.
“One of the reasons we go abroad is to discover new and exciting places. We all like the idea of seeing and trying something new.” Says J.M. Moriarty. “We understand that these experiences make us more interesting people in a sense, because we have seen more things than others and so we are free to lord it over our uninteresting neighbors and relations. They certainly appreciate our sophistication.”
The project is not without controversy.
Some critics of the campaign have pointed out that the artwork might be considered by the less discerning tourist as, at the very least derivative, if not wholly misleading. That’s the concern of Mary O’Sicín, local entrepreneur, chair of the Tubberfeck Civic League, vice chair of the Village Business Roundtable, and herself, director emeritus of TaTa. “We don’t have tropical beaches or suspension bridges or anything exciting or exotic and it’s fair to say that we’ve no Rhodes Scholars traveling to Tubberfeck for a bank holiday weekend,” she says. “Farmers and boggers looking for bit o’ shteak and a night out in an unfamiliar pub. If you make them think we’ve a national zoo or a 30-storey observation tower, they’re bound to ask for directions to it. Now ye’ve got a hard answer to give. We’ve none of that here in Tubberfeck.”
“Not so,” according to Mrs. Fanning. Plans are being drawn up now to expand several irrigation ditches that serve the hay fields east of town to accommodate a small fleet of gondolas. “There is nothing quite so romantic as a paddle past the meadows and hillocks and livestock that surround our wonderful village. The real hidden gems of Tubberfeck.”
Mrs. O’Sicín isn’t so sure. “Bollocks,” she says.
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