Senator Frank Feighan has warmly welcomed a funding allocation of €500,000 by the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Michael Ring, to develop a cycleway from Lough Key Forest Park & Activity Centre to Boyle Town. The funding has been allocated under his Department’s Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme.
“This is fantastic news for Boyle and the development of this cycle corridor linking up Boyle to our wonderful amenity at Lough Key Forest Park is a huge boost not just for the town but for this whole region.
“The ongoing development at Lough Key Forest Park & Activity Centre and its range of top class facilities continues to attract growing visitor numbers and the development of this cycleway will undoubtedly attract more and more of these people into the town of Boyle.
“Undoubtedly, the cycleway will have significant spin-offs for the local economy and today’s funding announcement will help drive the local tourism product forward in a very substantial way.
“As Minister Ring has said, figures available reveal that activity tourists spend in the region of €915m in the Irish economy during their stay. Similar statistics reveal that 286,000 visitors took part in cycling activities with a related spend of some €268m. These two sectors combined generated revenue for the Irish economy in the region of €1.2bn in 2014.
“Today’s funding is great news for Boyle and acknowledges the efforts of many people and stakeholders who are working so hard to enhance our local tourism offerings.”
