Sir, - There is a certain social risk in agreeing with Kevin Myers. However, I must say that he has articulated well many of my own feelings in regard to poor signposting (An Irishman's Diary, July 30th).
For those of us in the tourist industry, this is a very serious limiting factor to our development. Just as the Financial Services centre, and indeed the whole I.T. business, could not have been successful with our 1960s phone service, so we cannot become an acceptable tourist destination without a modern road direction facility.
In Wicklow, there are no indicators to guide a driver into or across the county. Coming from Cork or Limerick, one cannot get across the mountains to east Wicklow and the reverse also applies in getting from the N11 to West Wicklow. The greatest lack is of signs from Dublin Airport to east or west Wicklow.
There are receptionists in tourist offices in Dublin who will not book a visitor into a Co Wicklow Hotel on their first night because they are unab1e to tell them how to get there. Perhaps some of the imbalance in the success of tourism in Dublin city relative to the rest of Ireland is due to those tourists who cannot find their way out of the city.
Good signposting is a most important marketing tool for those of us who make a living from rural tourism and we do not have it yet in this part of our island. I hope that Mr Myers's clever words will be read and acted upon by those who have responsibility and authority to open up the hidden Ireland to foreign travellers. A serious investment is required. - Yours, etc.,
Proprietor, Tinakilly Country House and Restaurant, Rathnew, Co Wicklow.