Overseas visitors brought in € 51m

OVERSEAS visitors to Sligo are worth € 51m annually. That’s according to a recent survey conducted by Fáilte Ireland, which examined figures county by county.

Last year, it discovered 186,000 visitors came here.

Sligo fared mid- table according to the survey, which looked into both the number of overseas tourists visiting and also how much they’re spending.

Tourists were spending more money here than in Kilkenny, which took in € 45m.

Longford was bottom of the table, with 30,000 tourists worth € 8m to the local economy last year.

Dublin was miles ahead of the rest, which was unsurprising.

It welcomed a staggering 4,938,000 overseas tourists last year, worth a hefty € 1,726,000 to its economy.

Cork was in second place, with 1,449,000 visitors arriving to the Rebel County last year, adding € 558m to its economy for 2015.

Galway was in third position, seeing 1,354,000 people from overseas visiting last year, and leaving € 475m.

Kerry ( 1,026,000) was fourth, with its economy being boosted to the tune of € 234m, while Clare was fifth, welcoming 597,000 tourists from abroad.

Towards the bottom of the table were Offaly and Roscommon, with 50,000 visitors each, while Leitrim and Laois also had 57,000 each.

Leitrim’s economy benefitted by € 15m from its tourists, Roscommon’s increased by € 20m, while Donegal got € 83m.