Yet again, Guinness Storehouse has topped the list of the most popular fee-paying tourist attractions in Ireland for 2015, while the National Gallery of Ireland is the most popular free attraction.
Ireland’s national tourism authority, Fáilte Ireland, published their annual list of Ireland’s top visitor attractions for 2015. Last year, the Guinness Storehouse welcomed almost 1.5 million visitors - an increase of almost 230,000 (18 percent) over the previous year’s performance. 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.
Fee-paying Attractions:
Guinness Storehouse – 1,498,124 (+18%)
Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience – 1,251,574 (+16%)
Dublin Zoo – 1,105,005 (+2.6%)
National Aquatic Centre – 991,554 (-6.5%)
Book of Kells – 767,996 (+18%)
Amongst Irelands ‘free to enter’ attractions, the National Gallery of Ireland once again continues to lead the way with numbers up 21 percent 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% which can be attributed to a more extensive program overall in 2015.
Free Attractions:
The National Gallery of Ireland – 718,637 (+21%)
National Botanic Gardens – 553,348 (+2%)
Irish Museum of Modern Art – 485,702 (+58%)
National Museum of Ireland (Archaeology, Kildare St) – 457,057 (+2%)
Read more: Top ten archaeological discoveries in Ireland
Farmleigh – 410,076 (+2%)
The Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan said “The wealth of the variety of our visitor attractions, whether free or fee-paying, plays a significant part in adding to the positive experiences enjoyed by tourists when in Ireland.”
Commenting on the figures, Paul Keeley Director of Business Development with Fáilte Ireland said “The rise in visitor numbers across most sites last year reflects a very strong year of growth in 2015. We would expect to see similar rises across many attractions this year also as we enjoy another year of growth.
“Indeed, the top performing attraction – the Guinness Storehouse – welcomed 10,000 visitors on March 18th of this year which was a one-day record for the attraction.”
Read more: The top ten places to visit in Ireland
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