Mayo visitors stay longer than national average

Mayo visitors stay longer than national average


Áine Ryan

WHETHER it is the Wild Atlantic Way, the Great Western Greenway or County Mayo’s wonderful welcome in pubs and restaurants, hotels and other visitor facilities, the tourism industry is beginning to burgeon again in the wake of the recession. That is according to Minister of State for Tourism, Michael Ring, who has welcomed the publication of official figures on tourism numbers which shows that average stays in County Mayo in 2013 for domestic visits was 3.8 nights, an increase on the 2012 figures and higher than the average national figure of 2.9 nights.
The upward trend is further confirmed in figures which show that there were 373,000 domestic trips to the county in 2013, representing an increase of over nine per cent on 2012, when there were 342,000 visits.
Meanwhile, overall national figures, for the first six months of 2014, show an average increase of 10 per cent on 2013.
“The Wild Atlantic Way is generating great interest amongst the overseas markets. FΡilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland continue to strongly market the new initiative. Visitor numbers for the first half of the year are up 10 per cent and these figures do not include the typical holiday season of July and August. There is great optimism among the tourism industry that 2014 will be record year and I am sure Mayo and the west will certainly see the benefit of this,” Michael Ring said.