Kerry scenery still the big draw for visitors

The scenery of Kerry is still the big draw for tourists and more than a third of all visitors are now partaking in hiking and cross-country walks.

A survey carried out by Fáilte Ireland into visitors’ attitudes to the region showed almost half were attracted by the scenery.

Fáilte Ireland interviewed 1,800 tourists for the survey, of whom the vast majority came from overseas.

The key findings of the survey, which were published yesterday, show 32% of visitors decided to come to the county after viewing guidebooks.

But a further quarter travelled because of recommendations from others ‘through word of mouth’ of their experiences in the Kingdom.

Fáilte Ireland officials said that 72% of visitors did their homework on what was on offer in the county through the internet before they departed on their holiday.

Most of those who used the internet used general search engines such as Google or Bing.

However, 27% also logged onto the Discover Ireland websites (either .ie or .com) to gain more information about what was available in Kerry.

Once they had arrived they also accessed further information locally.

The survey stated that 84% of those questioned said they visited a tourism information office in Kerry.

It also emerged that one-in-four of them also went to someone at their accommodation for information.

It appears that more people are getting interested in activity holidays.

The survey found that more than a third took time to go hiking/ cross country to get closer to the scenery.