Visitor numbers increase by 10% in 2011

Jan. 9, 2012 - PRLog -- On Thursday 5th January, GUINNESS STOREHOUSE  celebrated a 10% increase in 2011 visitor numbers having once again welcomed over a million (1,025,677) visitors through its doors last year and retaining its position as Ireland's no.1 international visitor attraction.

Despite the economic downturn and impact this has had on tourism figures in recent years, GUINNESS STOREHOUSE is continuing to buck the trend, with the attraction also ranked as the fourth largest brand visitor attraction in the world*.

Speaking at the announcement on Thursday, Managing Director, Paul Carty said: "We are delighted to announce we are still the no. 1 international visitor attraction in Ireland with over 1 million people passing through the GUINNESS STOREHOUSE doors last year. Over the past number of years, the Irish tourism industry has been under severe pressure and we are proud to have played a part in enticing overseas visitors to Ireland and encouraging domestic visits too."

Mr Carty continued "all eyes were on Ireland during the high profile state visits of US President Barack Obama and Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II last May and this had a positive impact on our visitor numbers. A very successful St Patrick's Day festival and the launch of FIVE, an entirely new experience dedicated to Guinness and Food at the Storehouse also contributed to helping us achieve our second highest footfall figures ever recorded."

"To increase visitor numbers by 10% and welcome one in every two holiday makers visiting Dublin to the GUINNESS STOREHOUSE proves that we offer a superb visitor experience that rivals some of the world's top attractions and is one that we can be proud of."

Welcoming the GUINNESS STOREHOUSE figures, Alex Connolly, Head of Communications at Fáilte Ireland emphasised: "Visitor attractions play a vital part in growing both tourism revenue and visitor numbers and these figures today reflect an increase in overseas visitors last year and maybe also a royal bounce from the Queen's visit. If we can maintain this momentum in 2012, there is every reason to believe that the Storehouse, and all our other key Dublin tours, can further increase visitor numbers this year. That will be good for tourism and great for our economy".

92% of all visitors to the GUINNESS STOREHOUSE are from overseas. Visitors from the USA, Germany, the UK, Ireland and Italy were ranked as the top five visiting nations to GUINNESS STOREHOUSE last year with Germany (up 17%), the USA (up 14%), Ireland (up 14%) and Italy (up 5%) showing significant increases compared to 2010.

Visits from Spain (up 15%) Scandinavia (up 9%), France (up 8%) and Australia and New Zealand (up 4%) also showed significant growth in 2011. Summertime is peak season in the GUINNESS STOREHOUSE and the month of August was ranked as the busiest month in the history of the Storehouse with 116,021 visitors. With many things to do in Dublin these figures are very impressive.

The highest ever visitor numbers to the GUINNESS STOREHOUSE were recorded in 2008 when 1,038,910 passed through its doors.