Last year, the Guinness Storehouse welcomed almost 1.5 million visitors

Visitors to Book of Kells increase by 18%

Fáilte Ireland has published its annual list of Ireland’s top visitor attractions with the Guinness Storehouse once again a top choice for visitors coming to Ireland on holiday.

Last year, the Guinness Storehouse welcomed almost 1.5 million visitors - an increase of almost 230,000 (18%) 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.

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% 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 programme overall in 2015.

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%)

Farmleigh – 410,076 (+2%)

Minister of State for Tourism & 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. The government has committed significant investment over the last few years to develop both new and existing attractions, and these figures published today highlight how such investment can return dividends.”

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.

'Fáilte Ireland is fully committed to ensuring our tourism infrastructure, which includes our visitor attractions, remains relevant and attractive to all those arriving to our shores and we are committed to developing new or boosting existing sites through our current capital funding schemes. We need a strong regional spread of top attractions to ensure that our three brands – Dublin: A Breath of Fresh Air, the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland’s Ancient East - are compelling for visitors and that Ireland remains poised to welcome and cater for ever greater numbers in the future.”