Westport councillors voice concerns over tourism decline

Westport councillors have expressed their concern about the fall in tourism in 2023.

Independent Cllr Christy Hyland said it is “absolutely frightening” that the people counters at various locations such as Croagh Patrick, Moore Hall and the Great Western Greenway saw fewer visitors in 2023 than 2018.

“Croagh Patrick alone recorded visitors of 109,000 in 2018 but up until November 2023, there were 51,000," he told a meeting of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District. "That’s a 50% drop. That affects everyone because the footfall into the town and the surrounding areas drops. We better come up with some sort of formula for 2024 to try and get the figures back up again.

“In 2018, the Great Western Greenway saw 190,000 visitors and this year, for the eleven months, it’s 108,000. I know we had Covid and all those restrictions in the past, but it’s so important economically to our area that these tourist attractions maintain figures and increase them, if we can.” 

Fine Gael Cllr Peter Flynn agreed with Cllr Hyland that the situation is not being helped by the use of hotels for refugee accommodation.

“A hotel on the east coast announced their results for 2022," Cllr Flynn remarked. "For the just over 11 months they were open, they got €18.5 million. They have 350 bedrooms and it worked out at €55,000 per room.

“All anyone has to do is do the maths and see why people are transforming their houses into refugee locations around the country, particularly around Mayo. It’s all economics. As long as people are getting an open chequebook, it’s criminal what’s happening. When the supply is taken out of circulation and demand is still high, the other 60% that are still in the tourism business have the option to increase prices.

“It's a double whammy in terms of tourism at the moment, between pricing on one side and the shortage on the other side. We're in the midst of a perfect storm.”

Cllr Flynn said Mayo is also not getting any new tourism projects.