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Cliffs of Moher Visitors Hit One Million for 2017

11th August 2017
The world-famous visitor attraction reached the figure today (Friday, 11 August 2017), 11 days ahead of the date the figure was reached in 2016 The world-famous visitor attraction reached the figure today (Friday, 11 August 2017), 11 days ahead of the date the figure was reached in 2016

For the fourth year in a row, the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience in County Clare has recorded one million visitors within a calendar year.

The world-famous visitor attraction reached the figure today (Friday, 11 August 2017), 11 days ahead of the date the figure was reached in 2016 and exactly 10 weeks earlier than when the milestone was first reached in 2014.  The North Clare visitor attraction is now on track to exceed its record visitor total of 1,427,166 people in 2016.

The Clare County Council owned attraction has undergone substantial investment in product and facilities in recent years while its position as a Signature Point along the 2,500km Wild Atlantic Way has contributed to its growing popularity.

While welcoming the continuing increase in popularity of the attraction, the Director of the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience says measures continue to be put in place to accommodate the increase in numbers sustainably.

“These significant visitor numbers are fantastic for the local tourism sector and the wider West of Ireland economy,” explained Katherine Webster.

She continued, “However, we continue to deal with the challenges in relation to capacity management and sustainable growth.  Measures to sustainably manage group tour numbers have been in place for some time while long summer opening hours and advance notice of capacity constraints onsite are provided both online and via advanced digital signage on all approaches to the Cliffs.”

Ms. Webster continued, “The reality is much of the growth has been experienced in low and shoulder season while high season growth comes outside of the peak hours of 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. and the increased visitation in the evening drives benefitto accommodation in the local area.  We also are working with other local tourism providers to encourage visitors to experience more of our wonderful county of Clarethan the Cliffs alone.”

Published in Coastal Notes
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Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.