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THE GUINNESS STOREHOUSE is once again Ireland’s top tourist attraction.
The home of the black stuff saw attendances rise by 18% in 2015, to just under 1.5 million.
Amongst the nation’s fee-paying attractions, the Storehouse was followed closely by the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience and Dublin Zoo which both registered significant increases in paying visitors during 2015.
The top five fee-paying attractions were:
1. Guinness Storehouse (1,498,124 visitors, +18%)
2. Cliffs of Moher – (1,251,574, +16%)
3. Dublin Zoo – (1,105,005, +2.6%)
4. National Aquatic Centre – (991,554, -6.5%)
5. Book of Kells (767,996, +18%)
Amongst Ireland’s free to enter attractions, the National Gallery of Ireland once again continues to lead the way with numbers up 21% to over 718,000. Also performing well were the National Botanic Gardens, National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology on Kildare Street and Farmleigh all making the top five.
The Irish Museum of Modern Art climbed the rankings to third place recording impressive growth of 58%.
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It never ceases to make me cringe when I tell foreigners that if they park at the visitor centre in the cliffs of moher they will be charged per head in the car, not a flat charge the car itself. It really is disgraceful and shows up our attitude towards tourists here. Better off to go there when the car park closes, park for free and grab a fantastic sunset.
There’s a way around it. Show up at about 5:30, the fee is for the visitors centre which closes at 6 I think. The cliffs are open 24/7. PS don’t go at night it’s extremely dangerous
Yes but after hundreds of thousands of years of neglect by humans the cliffs need maintaining the money has to come from somewhere!
Neglect? Hundreds of thousands of years? What are you on about?
One too many consonants there, P.
You mean the same way American National parks charge or the, national trust in the UK charge! Easy way around it is not to use the visitor centre car park there are other options
Wayne I was in both Estes and Rocky Mountain National Parks. One was free to enter but took donations, the other had a charge on the van not the amount of people in it.
Can’t you come at the cliffs from the opposite direction? I think an enterprising local has set up their own car park with an honesty box.
What are you smoking. Neglected cliffs?? Someone ring Child Cliff services
Erosion is nature.
Easy solution. Drop the passengers 50 yards down the road, and drive into the car park on your own. They can only charge you for one person.
Park in liscannor for €2 do the cliff walk from there.
A median national parks are $20 upwards to enter
American even!!!
If what ever reason you want to go to the Galway races an hour after the first race it’s free entry.
Money stops the cliff erosion, it can also cure aids about 1.5 million liquefied concentrated dollars direct injection into the jugular and bang aids no more..
@ p. Ennis, I think that flew over a few heads.
@ funky town, I think only you and i got the sarcasm. A lot of up tight dumb asses on here with no sense of humour it would appear.
He must be talking about pre historic man`s failure to prevent coastal erosion at the Cliffs of Moher.
National Aquatic Centre is a tourist attraction?
By that logic shouldn’t croke park be top with the concert and gaa attendances?
Somebody’s clearly never been on the Lazy River. (The NAC has a water park so is classed as a tourist attraction).
The holy stone of clonrichert?????
Sure it was never upgraded in the end…
Wasn’t somebody cured there?
Dublin airport has to be one of the top tourist attractions in Ireland. Tens of thousands come to see it every day
So basically all tourists just want to see things in Dublin and the Cliffs of Moher?.
I suspect the numbers for the National Aquatic Centre and Dublin Zoo include a lot of people who just went to them for the day.
For someone to be a tourist, whether international or domestic, there really should be at least one night’s accommodation booked as well.
1.5m visitors x how much a pop? Absolute goldmine!
About €17 or €18 per adult I think €€€€
Yea, but they get a free pint at the end
I was disappointed with the cliffs of moher and as mentioned above the parking situation is a joke,Down a country road and all of a sudden double yellow lines appear on the road as you come near the visitor centre.Go to sliabh league in Teelin west Donegal it’s free and way more impressive than COM.I think they are also the highest sea cliffs in western Europe but I’m open to correction on that.
I thought that Glasnevin Cemetery claimed one of the top visitor spots ?
Fantastic spot terry. The 4hr walk across sliabh liag to glencolmcille is breathtaking
What about Coppers? They should be in top 3 , I think.
What about dingle , west cork , blarney, the giants causeway ????
Shelly, the book of Kells had approx. 767,000 visitors and it came last on the above list. I’d say it’s save to presume that all other attractions that aren’t on that list had fewer visitors, hence they are not on the list.
The jacks behind MacHale park deserve a mention
Muckross house Ross Castle Ladies view Gap of Dunloe Killarney National park.
Why is the national aquatic centre listed as a “tourist attraction”. Surely it would be more appropriate to have it 2nd on the list of “places most visited” after the dole office
No body wants to pay their way anymore.
Pay for what? Moher didn’t need a visitor centre. It’s a cliff. Other things like the Burren, clonmacnoise, Giants Causeway, etc you can visit for nothing. Best way to see the cliffs is from the sea anyway. 15 for the boat trip.
Giants Causeway isn’t for nothing, if you have a car they force you into the visitor centre to pay by the head, the same rip off logic as the Cliffs of Moher.
You can go to the causeway free. Even with a car.
Let me partially retract that – £6/day per car to park in the nearby carpark and walk only minutes to the Causeway. You are not forced to pay to enter the visitor’s centre.
The major difference is that the National Trust actually maintain a lot of fantastic attractions all across the UK and paying supports their work. The visitor centre at the Cliffs is just a money grabbing exercise.
From my experience visiting the Giants Causeway when you drive up to the nearby carpark an attendant at the gate will tell you park your car and go to the visitor centre for tickets for each person in the car. That’s £18 for 3 people as it was when I visited the place. Natural attractions like the Giants Causeway & the Cliffs don’t need useless visitor centres so in my opinion they are both money grabbing exercises.
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