- Great summer for Dublin museums
- Collins Barracks up 64pc
- Cliffs of Moher has to manage visitor numbers
- Little museum Dublin also capping visitors
As Ireland’s visitor attractions weigh up their summer numbers, the big mover for 2016 has been the National Museum at Collins Barracks which will pass Kildare St as the museum’s biggest crowd-puller. Figures are up by 64pc putting the museum on course for 485,000 visitors in 2016 with Kildare St just behind on 466,000. Interest in the 1916 exhibitions did not fall off and has continued at a high level during the summer making this a record year for Collins Barracks. The new GPO Witness History centre at the GPO recorded 115,000 visitors in first 5 months of operation.
Dublin’s museums are having a great year, The National Gallery is up by 21.2pc and Book of Kells up 12pc bringing both past the Giant’s Causeway as Ireland’s fifth and sixth most popular visitor attractions. IMMA is up 23pc and on course for 6000,000 or 11th place. Chester Beatty Library is up 8pc and on course for 372,000. The Natural History Museum is up 7pc and on course for 343,000. Shannon heritage sites are up 5pc to 427,000 admissions to its core portfolio of attractions and entertainment options so far this year.
The National Aquatic Centre will become the fourth visitor attraction to host 1m visitors if its 6pc increase is sustained. Guinness Storehouse is up 8pc and on course for a record 1.6m while the Cliffs of Moher are up 13pc and on course for 1.4m. Guinness Storehouse English visitors are up 9.3pc and now 26pc of the total and the USA up 18pc to 23.6pc of the total, if trends continue the USA will become the Storehouse’s main market in 2017.
The Cliffs of Moher passed their millionth visitor for 2016 on Monday 22nd August, 21 days earlier than in 2015 when the millionth visitor arrived on 12th September and 59 days earlier than 2014 and implemented what it calls a string of measures to maintain the quality of the experience.
Katherine Webster says: While it is great to see the Cliffs of Moher and the west of Ireland so popular we are conscious of managing the demand sustainably. We have a series of measures in place to ensure that our visitors experience is maintained at the highest level. We provide advance bookings for group tours and incentives for off peak visits. We have similar arrangements planned for fully independent visitors (FITs). We have extended opening hours (till 9pm in July & August) and encourage those staying locally to visit after 5pm when the site is quieter and there is the added benefit of the light of the setting sun on the cliff face. We work closely with other local tourism stakeholders throughout Clare and especially in the Burren & Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Geopark to encourage longer stays in County Clare which has so much more than the Cliffs of Moher to offer.
Another attraction with capacity issues is the Little Museum of Dublin which saw a rise of 23pc in first quarter and put a cap on tour numbers in the wake of this to improve visitor experience and are now operating at similar numbers to last year since April. The Little Museum says it is turning away 18-23pc of visitors due to capacity issues. The Science Gallery is up 6.4pc to 291,000 visitors compared with 272,000 at the same time last year. Dublinia says numbers are slightly up on last year, with a big increase in the American market. Newbridge silverware say figures are on par with last year and they are on target to achieve approx 350k by year end. It has been a very good August for us.
