This article is from page 10 of the 2012-11-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
AMERICAN football is being credited as the unlikely saviour of the tourism season in Clare this year, with the recent Notre Dame versus Navy Homecoming Game providing a much-needed visitors boost for the county.
This year’s London Olympics had a negative effect on the number of foreign tourists numbers visiting Clare, contrary to what many tourism organisations had predicted before the games.
According to year-to-date visitor numbers recorded at the Cliffs of Moher Visitors Centre, the Olympics and Euro 2012 dampened down the number of individual tourists, both from Ireland and abroad, coming to the Cliffs.
According to Katherine Webster, Director of the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience, package or bus tours have saved the Cliffs from a large slump in individual tourists brought about by the large numbers visiting London for the Olympics and the number of Irish people who travelled to Poland for the Euro 2012.
The visitors centre, which is by far Clare’s most visited tourist site, is used by many in the industry as a barometer for the overall health of the tourism sector in county.
Year-to-date visitor numbers for the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience are slightly ahead of 2011 figures.
Group tours have been performing well this year, especially in the autumn period, but individual visitors have not been quite as strong, according to Ms Webster.
“The Notre Dame versus Navy American football match at the start of September really helped pull up the numbers after a pretty poor summer. We saw a decline in numbers around the time of the Euro 2012 campaign and the Olympics.”
An estimated 35,000 American football fans travelled to Ireland for the Homecoming Game which took place in early September, a massive increase on the 10,000 who travelled to Ireland the last time a seasoned American football game was staged here.
The estimated boost to the country from the match was estimated at around € 70 million. The event was also seen as a major point to advertise The Gathering to Americans who may decide to visit Ireland in 2013.