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Ireland's most popular tourist counties and attractions have been revealed

Overall, annual tourism grew by over €1 billion last year compared to 2014.

Cliffs of Moher The Cliffs of Moher, Co Clare is the second most popular tourist attraction in the country. Rolf Haid / PA Images Rolf Haid / PA Images / PA Images

TOURISM IS IRELAND’S largest indigenous employer and last year visitors to the country spent €4.6 billion, according to Fáilte Ireland.

That huge spend is spread out across all Ireland’s regions but the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) has collated the figures to see which areas benefit most from tourism.

Unsurprisingly, most of the tourist money spent in Ireland is spent in Dublin. Tourist expenditure in Dublin accounts for 43% of all the money spent here and in monetary terms comes it comes in at just under €2 billion.

What’s striking about Dublin’s share of the tourism pie is that it has grown each year over the past three years from 38% of the total in 2014.

In a commentary on the figures, the ITIC speculates that Dublin’s increasing share of visitor spend may be partly to do with the trend for more city-break travel.

The regions are broken down into the seven different regions that are used by the CSO and in those terms the southwest, comprising Cork and Kerry, has the second-largest spend by tourists.

Those two countries together raked in €849 million last year, or 22% of the total.

unnamed Irish Tourism Industry Confederation Irish Tourism Industry Confederation

The border region, which is made up of the five counties bordering Northern Ireland plus Sligo, has shown the biggest growth in tourist spend over the three-year period to last year.

An increase of more than €100 million was recorded over that period meaning the border region has moved ahead of the south east in terms of where tourists spend their money.

Overall, annual tourism grew by over €1 billion last year compared to 2014.

Attractions

Fáilte Ireland has also put together an updated list of the most popular tourist attractions in the country, both paid and free.

The Guinness Storehouse remains the most popular place for tourists to visit with a total of 1.65 million visitors last year. The Cliffs of Moher was the second most popular with 1.43 million visits.

The National Gallery of Ireland was the most popular free attraction and was the seventh most popular overall.

PastedImage-59643 The most popular tourist attractions in the country. Irish Tourism Industry Confederation. Irish Tourism Industry Confederation.

(View full-size graphic)

Read: The Guinness Storehouse will spend millions to double the size of its rooftop bar >

Read: ’I got a loan and sold my car to fund a hen party website. It felt like a massive risk’ >

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    Mute Kevin Ryan
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 3:23 PM

    And Kate chose Paul when, after a short nap, he clicked his fingers and she felt a powerful new attraction to him.

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    Mute IrishGravyTrain
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 3:26 PM

    Any pictures of this Kate? . Lets have a gawk at her.

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    Mute Cormac
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 5:32 PM

    We need Alan Partridge to follow his lead

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    Mute Eoin Fleming
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 3:35 PM

    “look into my eyes, not around the eyes into eyes, romance isn’t dead”

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    Mute jerome murphy
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 3:32 PM

    This is a stupid article? Why give this clown the publicity

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    Mute JJ O Riordan
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 3:18 PM

    And they say romance is dead.

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    Mute Diarmuid Lucey
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 3:31 PM

    Tinder must be outdated now……..here comes the craze of Excel spreadsheet dating.

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    Mute JJ O Riordan
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 3:35 PM

    Or bring all the candidates into a room while you give a PowerPoint presentation on all of their strengths and weaknesses.

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    Mute Anto Curran
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 3:23 PM

    Whatever formula works for him!

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    Mute Christmas Carol
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 4:18 PM

    Wait. So is he saying that Kate ….isn’t pretty? What a charmer.

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    Mute Chauncey Gardiner
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 4:16 PM

    Really wish I hadn’t read that!

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    Mute Niamhs
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 3:33 PM

    LTD Paul, LTD….

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    Mute Eamon Coakley
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 4:48 PM

    And so Kate, what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul McKenna?………

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    Mute Brian Ward
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 6:27 PM

    Maybe she chose him for his balance sheet so all in all I’m sure they will be well matched.

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    Mute Lurfic
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 3:25 PM

    Am I the only one who’s never heard of this person?

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    Mute Pat Comer
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 3:28 PM

    You’ll remember everything when he clicks his fingers.

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    Jan 3rd 2016, 4:02 PM
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    Mute RJ.Fallon
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 6:31 PM

    Yes he would Paul,professional Associations do not allow registered practitioners to take part in public entertainment.

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    Mute RJ.Fallon
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 4:21 PM

    At least he is not claiming to be a professional therapist, he would lose his license straight away for doing public entertainment performances.

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    Mute Paul Horgan
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 5:54 PM

    No he wouldn’t

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