An Irish cycling tour operator who declined to take US
tourists on a planned ride around The Burren in Co Clare has proven a big hit
for the stance she took.
The E-Whizz company brings tourists around the Burren and
the Wild Atlantic Way on electric bikes in a bid to make the area accessible to
all, with food and drink stops as part of the experience.
However, when two people booked a tour at the weekend and
the company’s owner realised they were US tourists, she wondered if they had quarantined
for 14 days on arrival.
Janet Kavanagh, who owns the E-Whizz company and leads
the guided cycling tours, said she felt uncomfortable when she realised the
tourists were American holiday makers who had not self isolated.
"I usually check where people come from, just for
the sake of conversation when they arrive. But in this case it was an Irish
name so I thought 'Oh, they're Irish but I'll just check'," she explained.
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"Then I realised they were from the US. They
didn't say how many days (quarantining) they'd done but obviously they had not
done their 14 days when I challenged them about it.”
When she announced on Twitter she had cancelled the
guided ride the tourists had booked her account lit up with people thanking her
and wishing her well on the basis she’d turned away business to do the right
thing.
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Her Tweet was liked over 15,000 times and re-Tweeted more
than 2,000 times; a lot of exposure for a small guided cycle tour company.
She said she was “blown away” with the positive response and had even been contacted by people who had caught Covid19 and recovered and who thanked her for doing the right thing and going public about it.
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