Hiking and walking seen as tourist sector growth areas

THE popularity of walking and hiking has exploded in Ireland over the past five years with a staggering 1.9 million people hiking here last year.

Of the 1.9 million hikers, some 860,000 were domestic holidaymakers with the remainder travellers to Ireland from overseas.

Activity tourism is a major source of revenue to the economy in recent years. According to Fáilte Ireland, it was worth €1.2 billion to the economy in 2008, with €650 million generated by overseas markets and €540m from the domestic market.