Hotel bed shortage blamed for slump in visitors to key Mayo attractions
Visitor numbers are down by over 50% at Croagh Patrick between 2018 and 2023
A councillor has said Mayo County Council’s "poor management" of its intake of international protection applicants has negatively affected visitor numbers at the county’s tourist locations.
At last week’s meeting of the council's Tourism Strategic Policy Committee, members were presented with visitor numbers at various attractions throughout the county since 2018. The figures were tracked by visitor counters placed at these locations.
Downpatrick Head has had a boost in popularity over the past five years with 43,169 visitors in 2018 increasing to over 63,158 in 2023 (up to the end of November). Similarly, Moore Hall has had 37,568 visitors this year and is likely to surpass the 2021 figure of 40,469, while some 101,024 people have visited Lough Lannagh in 2023.
A total of 109,821 visitors came to Croagh Patrick in 2018, but that number declined to 89,540 in 2019 and completely dropped off during 2020 and 2021, the years of Covid-19 pandemic. Numbers have yet to return to pre-Covid levels with 51,211 visitors to Croagh Patrick in 2023. Similarly, visitors to the Great Western Greenway were 190,017 in 2018 and 209,863 in 2019 but dropped to 108,075 in 2023.
Independent Cllr Christy Hyland claims a shortage of accommodation beds is responsible for these figures. Some hotel beds in the county are currently being used to house people fleeing the war in Ukraine and other international protection applicants, and Cllr Hyland accused the council of managing this situation poorly. He said there are "over 1,000 hotel beds unavailable in Westport currently".
“These are frightening figures. It is down to bad management of asylum seekers and the refugee situation. We need to help people fleeing a warzone but how are we supposed to have visitors with no beds?”
Cllr Hyland said the tourism sector cannot continue to carry the "burden" of housing refugees.
“Fáilte Ireland says every visitor spends €200 a day. One thousand beds for 1,000 visitors gone is €200,000 a day or €1.4m a week.”
Cllr Paul McNamara said the decline in visitor numbers was "alarming".
“The tourism sector is taking a hit and we’re nearly down by exactly half in some places. When you fall off like that, it is alarming.
“We can land all the planes we want in Knock Airport but it doesn't matter if we don’t have the beds, we’re heading for a drastic situation.”
Council cathaoirleach Cllr Michael Loftus said visitor numbers to Mayo are, in fact, up from 411,000 in 2018 to 421,000 in 2023 thus far, adding that he did not intend to take a "negative" view of the data.
Tourism Development Officer Anna Connor said it was important to remember that the lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 greatly disrupted visitor numbers. A lot of Irish people went on international travel post-pandemic but the council is hoping that domestic tourism will receive a boost again next year.
