Imagine that you are a tourist (Irish or International) on the wild Atlantic way and are passing around or through Gort and you get on TripAdvisor and click [Things to do -> Nearby] – what do you think you would get? Or maybe this searching happened a few months previous when you were planning a trip to see what you would do in the area and again searched for ‘Things to do’ or maybe places to eat etc. What do you think you would find?
What have people said about this area in TripAdvisor – why don’t you find out for yourself? Many local people have or use TripAdvisor going abroad – why don’t we find out what it says?
Some history..
I’ve been using TripAdvisor for a few years now and our of curiosity, in 2014-2015 – I took a look at what TripAdvisor was saying about Gort and found a few anomalies – our profile wasn’t as good as I thought it should be. We have some wonderful restaurants, places to stay and things to do around the area – but it wasn’t really reflecting this. Here were some things I found:
- Thoor Ballylee had about 20 reviews and the last review was a terrible 1-Star rating and the headline review was ‘National Disgrace’.
- Kilmacduagh wasn’t featured in the area – it didn’t come under Gort at all but, it came under ‘Galway‘ in general
Kilmacduagh Monastary
- Gort Golf Club wasn’t even listed as something to do.
Gort Golf Club
So thing weren’t looking up to Gort and the environs – but at least we had Coole Park and LadyGregory Museum. Back then, I did 3 things.
- I wrote a 5-star review indicating the Thoor Ballylee was open – A number of 5-star reviews followed. Now the only reviews less that 4-stars are typically due to the fact the tower may be closed (in the winter)! But other than that most people reviews are now 5-Star – (Well done to the volunteers!)
- I wrote to TripAdvisor – advising them that Kilmacduagh was near Gort and posted wikipedia page that stated “Kilmacduagh Monastery is a ruined abbey near the town of Gort in County Galway, Ireland.”. They added this to the Gort Area within 4-6 weeks.
- I created Gort Golf’s Club 1st ever review titled ‘Beautiful Golf Course‘ and that it was a ‘hidden gem’
I have mentioned at initial Burren Lowlands meeting that we should support our own locality and help to raise its profile.
I can hardly see you
Ok – so now let’s see what has happened since 2015 – Thoor Ballylee has 80 reviews – most of which are 5-Star – so thats been a going fairly well – we could still support it more though!
Kilmacduagh has 128 reviews, again most of them 5-Star = so that’s going well!
Coole Park is leading the way with 248 reviews and Kiltartan Gregory Museum is 23 (with 19 5-star reviews)
However, Here is what I got when I was in the center of Gort (via GPS_ and I asked TripAdvisor to find me ‘Things to do – “Nearby”. This is what I got 🙂
Not very South-Galway Centric is it? where is Thoor Ballylee and Kilmacduagh? What about Gort Golf Club? This means that if I was interested in a game of Golf and I happened to be Gort – TripAdvisor would recommend for me to play in Portumna Golf Club – (which, in fairness has 40 reviews and a high rating). This was a surprise so I decided to check up on how Gort Golf Club was doing on.
Since I created the first Gort Golf Club post in 2015 – it has had just 5 more reviews since – (Yes – that’s just about 1 review a year). The reviews are pretty good but ‘Gort Golf Club’, when it comes to TripAdvisor I’m afraid that people can hardly see you.
From, word of mouth, I do hear many very positive things about Gort Golf Club so we know that it offers a lot more than just getting 1-review a year would reflect – so what can we do about this?
What to do?
This is not about creating a massive TripAdvisor marketing campaign – I wouldn’t recommend that, what I would recommend though it for people to simply raise awareness as you are experiencing it:
- Download the App – it’s very simple!
- Next time you play a game of Golf in Gort Golf Club …. Add a review on TripAdvisor. Be honest! Review it. Add a picture!
- Next time you have a meal in Gort – Add a review on TripAdvisor. Again be honest! Tell people how tasty it was!
- Next time you are in Ballylee, Kilmacduagh, Coole, Kiltartan-Gregory Museum, Kinvara or anywhere in South Galway – leave a review!
Let’s give positive feedback on the wonderful accommodation, restaurants, and things to do in our own locality. This brings more vibrancy into the area, well need more services and this will bring more jobs.
That’s it – and if enough people do this then from a TripAdvisor Perspective – it will be different – It will be more like:
It’s up to you!
-David Murray
South Galway Vision 