Tourism Sector
Executive Summary Overview of the Tourism Sector
Regional and Local Overview
- Galway accounted for 15.8% of total overseas visitors coming into Ireland in 2014.
- Galway's inbound overseas visitors increased at a higher rate than Ireland at 10.3% between 2013 and 2014.
- Galway experienced the third highest number of overseas visitors after Dublin and then Cork in 2012 and 2013, growing at a rate of 6.2%.
- Mainland Europe accounts for a large proportion of overseas visitors into Galway, 30% of these visitors come from North America
- In 2013, Galway attracted 199,000 British tourists, an increase of 11.8%.
- Galway generated €253 million in revenue from overseas visitors in 2012 with 38% of Galway's total revenue being generated by North American visitors.
- Galway attracts 10.4% of Ireland's total domestic visitors.
- 739,000 Irish residents travelled to Galway in 2013.
- Galway generated €148 million from domestic spending in 2013.
- Galway is showing positive RevPAR growth with Galway's RevPAR up 6% to €45.02 with an occupancy percentage of 67.4% as of 2013
- The reduced VAT rate has resulted in the creation an additional 1,203 new direct jobs in Galway within the tourism, food and hospitality sector.
- Galway airport has recently reopened to commercial flights with the first commercial jet, under the new licence, arriving on the 13th January 2015 from Stuttgart in Germany.
- Galway is famous for being the festival capital of Ireland, hosting 122 festivals and events for the year 2015
- Some 25% or 87,962 passengers from Shannon airport visited Galway with 48% of visitors to Galway stayed in a hotel, 16% stayed in a B&B, 7% stayed in self-catering accommodation and 39% went to stay with friends or relatives.
- There are 35 heritage sites, 31 museums and 10 art galleries in Galway City and County.
- Some 167,464 overseas tourists visited Connemara National Park in 2012.
- 689kms of Galway's coastline runs through the Wild Atlantic Way
Read the full Sector Overview
Download the Report (pdf) for this sector
Read the full Sector Overview
Download the Report (pdf) for this sector