Irish Counties Least Visited By Tourists Has Been Revealed

It's not every day we find out just how popular each county is in Ireland and today the results are in. According to Fáilte Ireland, Ireland welcomed nine million overseas tourists in 2017, with a combined spend of €4.9 billion.

In order to find out what counties overseas tourists love best, Failte Ireland conducted a survey at major air and seaports last year with 10,000 travelers. Not only did they discovered what counties did tourists love best, but using the Central Statistics Office data, Fáilte uncovered what counties are popular with Irish tourists.

The figures reflect that Ireland's domestic tourists and overseas tourists aren't actually that different:

Overseas tourists most and least popular counties to visit:

Dublin: 5,936,000 (€1981m)
Galway: 1,673,000 (€589m)
Cork: 1,600,000 (€631m)
Kerry: 1,277,000 (€337m)
Clare: 749,000 (€158m)
Limerick: 647,000 (€261m)
Mayo: 324,000 (€78m)
Kilkenny: 315,000 (€55m)
Wicklow: 275,000 (€73m)
Donegal: 255,000 (€82m)
Waterford: 255,000 (€69m)
Wexford: 232,000 (€61m)
Kildare: 211,000 (€91m)
Tipperary (N&S): 192,000 (€88m)
Sligo: 173,000 (€45m)
Louth: 172,000 (€55m)
Meath: 162,000 (€44m)
Cavan: 107,000 (€48m)
Westmeath: 103,000 (€46m)
Carlow: 79,000 (€45m)
Monaghan: 60,000 (€25m)
Roscommon: 54,000 (€27m)
Offaly: 52,000 (€16m)
Laois: 43,000 (€14m)
Leitrim: 41,000 (€18m)
Longford: 24,000 (€10m)

Suprisingly, Kerry and Clare are less popular destinations than Cork with overseas tourists, both counties include geographical landmarks and traditional Irish culture in abundance.

Domestically, Irish tourists are least likely to visit Longford, Roscommon, and Westmeath with a €12,000,000 spending gap between Westmeath and Monaghan, which appears fourth on the list:

Ireland's least favourite counties to visit:

Longford 228,000 (€18m)
Roscommon 228,000 (€18m)
Westmeath: 228,000 (€18m)
Monaghan: 223,000 (€30m)
Louth: 206,000 (€30m)
Leitrim: 206,000 (€32m)
Cavan: 206,000 (€32m)
Meath: 223,000 (€44m)
Offaly: 228,000 (€36m)
Laois: 228,000 (€30m)
Carlow: 228,000 (€36m)

Counties that are visited the most probably won't surprise you and, of course, Dublin, a popular destination with overseas tourists, tops the list domestically as well thanks to its ease of accessibility, shops, restaurants, and landmarks: