Emo Court remains top tourist attraction in Laois with almost 240,000 visitors
Donaghmore Famine Workhouse Museum had almost 2,500 paying visitors last year
ALMOST a quarter-of-a-million people visited Emo Court and Parklands last year, as it remains by far the top tourist attraction in Laois.
Latest figures published by Fáilte Ireland show that the magnificent mansion and grounds welcomed 238,039 visitors in 2023.
The vast majority visited the popular parklands, which is a favourite walking and recreational spot for locals as well as tourists. There were 337 ticketed visitors to the renowned Georgian house, which is one of only a few private country houses nationwide that were designed by noted architect James Gandon.
The Fáilte Ireland report published on 26 September gives a breakdown for visitor numbers in each county. As participation was voluntary, it is not a complete record of all visitor attractions that were open last year.
While Emo Court and Parklands is the county’s main tourist attraction, numbers are down from the highs of previous years which saw 379,161 visitors in 2021 and 350,000 in 2022.
The report shows that the Rock of Dunamase had 48, 832 visitors last year, up from 45,215 in 2022 and 27, 244 in 2021. Tourist numbers are expected to increase further with the development of a car park and other facilities at the heritage site.
The increasingly popular Timahoe Round Tower and Heritage Centre recorded 15,000 visitors last year, while Donaghmore Famine Workhouse Museum had 2,486 and Ballykilcavan Farm and Brewery near Stradbally had 2,126.
The report says that visitor numbers to tourist sites nationwide last year were 95% of the 2019 pre-Covid figure and were higher than the 85% figure recorded in 2022.
According to Fáilte Ireland, the number of international visitors to Ireland rose last year to 57% of the pre-Covid total, as numbers continued to recover following the pandemic.
Dublin had the largest share of international visitors at 68%, while the ‘Hidden Heartlands’ of the midlands saw the biggest growth, from 21% of international visitors in 2022 to 32% last year.
