Places of Wander: The Value of Community Attachment for Coastal Tourism

Marine and coastal tourism in Ireland has experienced steady growth since Fáilte Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way (WAW) initiative launched in 2014. An estimated 11.3 million overseas visitors toured Ireland in 2019, resulting in over €5.8 billion in revenue. Despite the overall visitor increase, there is a disproportionate distribution of tourism costs and benefits across communities along Ireland’s west coast. Communities that rely on coastal tourism driven by the WAW have sought to promote their unique identities as marketable experiences. This chapter examines the creation of place attachment and identity through the dynamic practice of localised place-making against top-down, branded placemaking. Using the coastal village of Rathmullan, County Donegal in Ireland as a case study, Q-methodology and participatory mapping was employed to (1) explore coastal tourism impacts on the community and (2) analyse the transformative progression of these tensions on place attachment and identity. Findings show community-driven tourism opportunities have the potential to rebalance some regionally disproportionate costs and benefits, allowing communities to highlight their unique identities. Additionally, with the tourism industry heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, communities have an opportunity to overhaul their approach to tourism engagement and better align its recovery and future development in more sustainable ways.