Offaly gathering figures disappointing

Offaly may be the home of Clonmacnoise, Tullamore Dew, the Lough Boora Parklands, Barack Obama’s ancestral homestead in Moneygall and castles a-plenty to name just a few.

Rich as it might be in tourist attractions however, it drew less than one per cent of Ireland’s overseas visitors during the year of The Gathering in 2013.

According to figures from Failte Ireland Offaly attracted some 37,000 visitors from overseas, who stayed at least one night in the county, last year, while Ireland as a whole attracted 10.5m visitors.

Dublin got the lion’s share - 38 per cent, or just under four million - of those visitors, while Cork attracted some twelve percent, or 1.25m. Galway accounted for almost ten per cent of visitors, pulling in just over a million of them during the year.

Closer to home, neighbouring Laois attracted some 52,000 visitors last year, while Westmeath’s charms appealed to 95,000 visitors.

The majority of Offaly’s 37,000 visitors were from Britain. The 23,000 British visitors to Offaly in 2014 accounts for some 62 per cent of the county’s total overseas visitor numbers. A further 9,000 visitors arrived in Offaly from mainland Europe, while another 3,000 were welcomed from North America.

Offaly’s performance when it comes to attracting overseas visitors wasn’t the worst in the country last year however. Roscommon attracted just 35,000 visitors in 2013, while Longford attracted just 22,000 during the year.

Unsurprisingly, Dublin took in most of the revenue from Ireland’s overseas visitors last year. Some €3,314m was spent by visitors from abroad during the year. Dublin tills saw 42 per cent of that amount, while Offaly, in contrast, saw just €17m - or half a per cent - of it.

Offaly’s €17m take was made in the main by visitors from mainland Europe, who accounted for 41 per cent of the figure. Visitors from Britain made up a third of the figure.