Greenway and Croagh Patrick visitor numbers plummet

VISITOR numbers at several attractions in West Mayo, including Croagh Patrick, have dropped considerably in the last five years.

Members of Mayo County Council’s Tourism SPC were presented with figures that showed that visitor numbers more than halved at Croagh Patrick since 2018.

Up to November 30, 51,211 visitors were recorded at the Croagh Patrick base counter – a drop of more than half from the 109,821 visitors recorded in 2018.

The holy mountain recorded even fewer visitors than it did in 2020, when Covid-19 restrictions forbid travel outside a person’s locality for long periods.

A total of 56,367 visitors were recorded at Croagh Patrick in 2020, compared to 89,540 in 2019. A trough of 44,317 was recorded in 2021 – when lockdown was in place for the first five months of the year.

Despite attracting considerable publicity in 2022 from Charlie Bird’s ‘Climb With Charlie’ fundraiser, which raised over €3 million for charity, Croagh Patrick attracted just 53,504 visitors in 2022 – 56,317 less than 2018.

Visitors along the Great Western Greenway have also nearly halved from a peak of 209,363 in 2019 to 108,075 as of November 30 this year.

‘Balance needed’

Westport-based county councillor Christy Hyland, who had requested the figures previously, said that this could be attributed to the loss of hotel beds in the area.

At present, over 21 percent of Mayo’s Failte Ireland registered tourist accommodation is being used by the government as refugee accommodation.

Much of this accommodation is in the Westport Electoral Area, where over 1,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Cllr Hyland told The Mayo News that a ‘downward spiral’ in tourism was occurring because of a lack of tourist accommodation in West Mayo.

“We have to help people in war-torn countries, but it’s bad management of the beds. What they should have done was bring these into holding centres and transfer them into towns where their economy is not tourism,” he said.

Other counties along the Wild Atlantic Way have accommodated a large proportion of refugees, with over a third of Clare’s Fáilte Ireland-registered tourist accommodation being used for such purposes.

Cllr Hyland said that his area has taken more refugees than it should have taken in, and he called for a better balance between refugee responsibilities and the tourist economy.

“We should have minded our tourism product as well, which we haven’t. If there’s no beds, visitors can’t come.”

He also called for more promotion for the ‘Offer A Home’ scheme whereby homeowners can receive a tax-free payment of €800 per month for accommodating Ukrainian refugees.

As of October, 780 Ukrainian refugees in Mayo were living in accommodation owned by individuals in receipt of the Government’s Accommodation Recognition Payment.

Bucking the trend

MAYO County Council’s Tourism SPC also heard that Downpatrick Head – which hosted the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in 2021 – saw its visitor numbers rise from 43,169 in 2018 to 63,158 in 2023.

Likewise, Moorehall saw its visitor numbers soar from just 5,535 in 2020 to a peak of 40,469, dropping to 37,568 last year.

The Turlough Greenway saw its popularity peak at 89,231 visitors in 2020 before dropping to 60,213 this year. Lough Lannagh in Castlebar recorded over 100,000 annual users this year and last year.