Ring of Kerry tops tourism survey

THE Ring of Kerry has been named ‘Best Tourist Attraction’ in Kerry by visitors in a ‘Europcar Tourism Index’ with the Dingle Peninsula and Killarney National Park finishing in second and third place respectively.

The study was conducted among 6,094 tourists who visited Ireland and rented Europcar vehicles between April and November 2016. Of those visiting Kerry, the Ring was named as the county’s best attraction with 36 percent of survey respondents choosing the internationally famous landmark as the number visitor site.

The survey also explored a cross-section of other tourist related features, nationally, such as the language, accommodation, culture and driving experience. Moreover, Kerry and Cork were voted the most popular regions for people holidaying at home with 32 percent.

The Wild Atlantic Way also fared well with 51 percent of tourists having heard of the famous destination before visiting Ireland; while 65 percent of tourists said they had drove part of the Wild Atlantic Way during their visit. There was also some good news for Gaeilgeoirí with over 50 percent of visitors saying they had heard Irish spoken during their visit.

Meanwhile, the top three European countries that tourists hailed from are the UK (23 percent), Germany (5 percent) and France (4 percent), and 17 percent of tourists from the US.

“Overall 2016 has been another positive year for the tourism sector with an increase of 11.6 percent in overseas visitors to Ireland for the first ten months of 2016, compared to the same period in 2015 according to the CSO. The results of this Index shed interesting light on tourists’ holidays and attitudes towards Irish culture, services and infrastructure,” said Colm Brady of Europcar Ireland.