The manager of a major visitor’s attraction facility in the North west has called on the government to provide increased funding to the sector in light of a reduced footfall since the Covid -19 pandemic.
It’s being claimed that visitor numbers to Ireland’s leading visitor attractions in 2022 returned to only 58% of what they were in pre-pandemic times.
The data has been provided by Ireland’s Association of Visitor Experiences and Attractions.
They say 13.3 million visitors (13,334,868) enjoyed a visit to an Irish visitor experience or attraction during 2022; this compares to 4.3 million visitors recorded for 2021 and pre-pandemic levels of 22.9 million in 2019.
Valerie Stenson is the manager of the Arigna Mining experience she says there are a number of factors that has led the reduced visitor numbers.
She says Visitor Attraction Centres in the north west are attracting 25% few numbers compared to 2019.
