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Sand Artist Manuel Frolich, putting the finishing touches to his sand artwork on Ballybunion North Beach (Ladies Beach) County Kerry to celebrate 10th anniversary of the iconic Wild Atlantic Way. Photo: Valerie O’Sullivan
A NEW report issued today estimates that almost 2,000,000 more tourists visited the Wild Atlantic Way in 2023 than in 2013.
The Wild Atlantic Way tourism brand developed by Fáilte Ireland, was launched to the tourism industry at Meitheal in Killarney back in 2014, and over the last decade has become a globally recognised tourism brand and has provided an economic engine for the west of Ireland.
According to a new report launched today, nearly 2 million more visitors visited the Wild Atlantic Way in 2023 compared with 2013.
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Tourism is now worth €3billion per year on the Wild Atlantic Way, an increase of 59% on 2013, and this growth has contributed to the creation of an additional 35,000 jobs, with tourism now supporting 121,000 jobs across the region.
Speaking at Meitheal, Fáilte Ireland’s flagship trade event, at the INEC in Killarney today, Catherine Martin TD, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, said: “This [Wild Atlantic Way] is now a household name and cements Ireland’s reputation as a must-visit tourism destination, and I commend Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland on their work in driving this success over the last 10 years.”
Speaking about the impact of the Wild Atlantic Way and developing a future pipeline of tourism business, Paul Kelly, CEO of Fáilte Ireland, said: “Domestically, the Wild Atlantic Way is our most popular region with 51% of all domestic tourism revenue being generated there.
“When we compare this internationally, based on the most recent data available, we see that inbound travel to Ireland grew by 45% between 2013 and 2019, well above the Northern European average of 25%. And the Wild Atlantic Way was a key contributor to this success with overseas visitor bednights in the region growing by 60% across this period.”
Meitheal, which has been running since 1975 got underway today at the Gleneagle INEC in Killarney, and will see over 380 Irish tourism partners pitch to 241 international buyers and tour operators from around the world.
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