Pubs are vital for Galway tourism

The scale of Galway’s hospitality sector as part of the tourism infrastructure is underlined in a new report which reveals that the city and county boasts 504 pubs, 64 hotel bars and 141 fully licenced and wine licenced restaurants in the country.

The report by economist Tony Foley – entitled the Contribution of the Drinks Industry to Tourism, and commissioned for the Support Your Local campaign – found that Galway had 1,028,000 overseas tourists in 2013, spending €308 million, highlighting the importance of the overseas tourism industry for revenues in the country.

The report showed that overseas visitors to Ireland spend 21% of their holiday expenditure on food and drink, with 26% of overseas visitors using pubs in Galway and Mayo for meals.

The Support Your Local campaign is calling for excise tax on alcohol to be cut, stating that these taxes are damaging our competitiveness and costing jobs.

The new report was launched this week at a roundtable discussion featuring some of Ireland’s top tourist stakeholders ‘Opening Ours: Evolving Ireland’s Drinks and Hospitality Industry to improve our Tourist Offer’ in the Old Jameson Distillery in Dublin.

At the discussion, Irish Whiskey tourism, the Wild Atlantic Way and the role of the pub were among the topics discussed. Mr Foley said that Ireland world renowned pubs are one of our top tourist draws, with many offering food and entertainment specifically for tourists.

“The regional spread of the hospitality sector, with 7457 pubs across the country, also supports the geographic spread of tourism,” he said.

The report notes that the drinks industry has the potential to make a strong contribution to the success of the Wild Atlantic Way project.

“The drinks industry is also responsible for the direct provision of major visitor attractions like the Guinness Storehouse, Ireland’s No.1 Visitor attraction, which attracted 1,269,371 visitors in 2014, IDL’s Old Jameson Distillery and Jameson Experience Midleton, which attracted 410,000 visitors between them, and newer developments like the Killlbeggan Distillery and Tullamore Dew Visitor Centre offering new attractions outside Dublin,” he said.