Fáilte Ireland has published its annual list of Ireland’s top tourist sights, with most attractions registering strong growth in the last year.
The most popular fee-paying attraction remains the Guinness Storehouse, which has welcomed 1.6 million people through its gates over the last 12 months.
The Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience and Dublin Zoo also registered strong performances, with the Cliffs enjoying a 14% rise in visitor numbers to 1.4 million, while the zoo saw a 3% rise to just over 1.1 million. The top five fee-paying attractions were rounded out by the National Aquatic Centre and Book of Kells, whose numbers were up by 4.5% to 1 million and 6% to 891,000, respectively.
Among Ireland's free to enter attractions, the National Gallery continues to lead the way with visitor numbers up 5% to over 755,000, while there were also impressive performances from the Irish Museum of Modern Art and National Botanical Gardens, with the former's numbers being up 20% to just under 585,ooo and the latter seeing an increase of 5.5% to over 583,000.
Fáilte Ireland CEO Paul Kelly commented that Ireland's “visitor attractions are a great barometer for tourism activity and the growth across most attractions reflects a record tourism year. This growth can be even stronger if we all work together to unlock the further potential of our natural landscapes and built heritage."
