Half a million go to Powerscourt
POWERSCOURT Estate is celebrating record visitor numbers as 467,000 guests visited Powerscourt Gardens and Waterfall over the past 12 months.
This represents a 14 per cent increase on 2016 visitor numbers and confirms Powerscourt Estate’s place as the most visited paid tourist attraction in County Wicklow.
271,000 people visited Powerscourt Gardens in 2016, up 9 per cent over the previous year, while visitors to Powerscourt Waterfall were up by 21 per cent at 195,000.
These strong results place Powerscourt Estate as the 9th most popular tourism destination in Ireland according to Failte Ireland’s recent list of the best performing tourist attractions. The Guinness Storehouse and the Cliffs of Moher are the top 2 tourism attractions in the country.
Visitors from Ireland to Powerscourt Gardens were up by 34 per cent while visitors from China grew by 47 per cent, making them the third-most important market in terms of visitors to the gardens.
Powerscourt is a popular location for TV series and films.
Productions shot on the estate over the past year include the historical drama ‘Vikings’ and BBC spin-off, ‘Kat & Alfie: Redwater.’ Travel and lifestyle programmes recently filmed at Powerscourt include ‘Destination: The Emerald Isle’ which aired in the USA on ABC live to 3 million people in February and BBC’s Great British Railway Journeys with Michael Portillo which enjoyed 1.8 million viewers.
Publicity opportunities such as these help raise awareness of County Wicklow as a tourism destination and bring more tourism business to the surrounding areas.
Celebrating the record number of visitors achieved, Sarah Slazenger, Managing Director of Powerscourt Estate said: ‘2016 confirmed that Powerscourt Gardens & Waterfall continue to be among the must-see visitor attractions in Ireland. With exciting new businesses in the pipeline including Powerscourt Distillery and the Cool Plant Experience, the estate’s offering and appeal continues to grow each year.’